Showdown
by patricia51
Summary: When Umbrella conducts a deliberate attack on the Abernathy-Olivera family Alice, Carlos and their family and friends decide it's time to end the menace of the corporation once and for all. Sequel to "Homeward Bound" and the finale of my four story "Tripod" series. Carlos/Alice, Chris/Jill, Claire/Sam.
1. The Raid

Showdown, Chapter 1 by patricia51

(The Raid)

(When Umbrella conducts a deliberate attack on the Abernathy-Olivera family Alice, Carlos and their family and friends decide it's time to end the menace of the corporation once and for all. Sequel to "Homeward Bound". Carlos/Alice, Chris/Jill, Claire/Sam.)

Special thanks to WhatHurtsMeMost whose supportive remarks made me think of how to start this fic.)

The moon was down at four o'clock in the morning on a cool October night. Only a few scattered soft lights peeked through windows and they did nothing to dispel the darkness. Several years after the world-wide zombie apocalypse sources of power such as electricity were becoming more and more scarce. Large scale production was a thing of the past. Even generators were few and far between and the gasoline or diesel fuel needed to run them even scarcer.

That suited the almost invisible figures moving silently through the scattered building and homes of the small Alaskan settlement. They moved in pairs, one covering the other. Black garments were topped with light-amplification goggles. Suppressed submachine guns mounted infra-red sights.

Only clicks came from the radio each man carried to indicate progress. The leader nodded in satisfaction. The mission he had been given personally by Chairman Wesker was proceeding according to plan. He rose from his crouch and waved his men on. Picked men, they represented the cream of Umbrella's para-military forces.

The group closed on the target house. Satellite imagery had been confirmed by a camouflaged long range spotter who had crawled to within telescopic range of the target. Remaining basically motionless for an entire day he had been able to specifically locate the bedroom where the mission's main objectives were located.

One last rush and the team would make its entry. That entry would be surreptitious if possible but if that was not possible all available force would be used. Surprise should allow them to complete the capture even if the resistance from the targets' guardians was as fierce as reported.

The team leader doubted that. He was certain that the reports exaggerated the prowess of the individuals in question. Tough perhaps, he was NOT in the habit of underestimating his foes, but no one was as capable as this Alice and Carlos Abernathy-Olivera were said to be. Especially her. Besides, even tough and extremely capable people were worn down by caring for twins, especially those under the age of one.

In fact the Umbrella commando was correct. Alice and Carlos were snuggled together and sound asleep, exhausted by yet another long and hard day.

Nobody in the post-apocalyptic world they lived in could simply sit back and take life easy. There were crops to raise as the supply of pre-collapse food ran out. There were borders to be patrolled against incursions by undead and marauders alike. There were expeditions that need mounting to recover items that couldn't be reproduced in the remaining factories or were needed to keep those factories going that produced essential items that kept civilization going in the North. At the state government level there was even talk of trading voyages that might be able to link the scattered havens of survivors together and create a new world. In fact Carlos, along with Chris, had just returned from accompanying a unit of the Alaskan National Guard that had made a contact run down to the survivors' colony in LA, stopping along the way to visit the floating communities along the coast.

In the meantime Alice had been busy, as busy as only a mother with twins only a few months old who also had additional responsibilities could be. Fortunately K-Mart and Angie were available to help out after school and between chores. In fact with Carlos just returned K-Mart had put the baby monitor in her room while her parents got some much needed together time.

Because of past experience at how loud her parents got when they got some together time K-Mart was glad that when they had insulated the interior walls as well as the exterior when they had first moved into the house. Maybe tonight she wouldn't have to wrap her pillow around her head or head over to Angie's. And of course she couldn't take the twins with her. And she loved her baby brother and sister so much anyway. She tiptoed in to check on them one more time before settling down to sleep. All was well with the world as she dozed off.

Everyone was asleep. But then someone's eyes popped open and she jerked upright in her bed, shaking her head as she tried to wake up all the way.

"Something's wrong," the teenager said aloud.

Everyone gets feelings. But for Angela Ashford Valentine Redfield sensations like she was experiencing were more than just feelings. One of the two people to have successfully bonded with the T-Virus on a cellular level she had powers and abilities far beyond those of normal humans. What those powers even were no one was sure of except that they seem to have been growing stronger as she passed through her late teenaged years.

One of the strongest abilities she had demonstrated was that she could sense and sometimes control the undead, probably because of her own link with the T-Virus. That one wasn't important right now. But two others were. The first was that she could somehow sense the approach of danger, although her Mom and Dad, Aunt Claire and Uncle Sam and most especially Aunt Alice and Uncle Carlos as well as several assorted scientists who had visited had no idea how that happened or even how her mind defined "danger". But it did and right now it was blaring warning signs.

She slipped from her bed and ran to the bedroom window, her pistol already in her hand. Using the skills her family had taught her she carefully peeked from one side of the blinds through a barely lifted slat. It took only seconds for her to spot the stealthy figures closing in on the house next door. Even as she ran for the door to wake up her parents she was using another power.

On the road home after her rescue from Umbrella's clutches in LA Angie had demonstrated telepathy. Perhaps it was connected to her ability to sense and control the undead. Regardless, she was capable to contacting others mind-to-mind.

Those contacts could take place in one of two fashions. Someone she knew really well she could call to personally. If that person had practiced with her then the communication could take place both ways. And the person she had the most experience with, in fact the first person she had been able to contact with one-on-one, was in the house the invaders were surrounding. Angie concentrated.

"K-Mart!" There was no immediate answer from her best friend who would be, of course asleep. Angie repeated her call.

"K-Mart!"

"What is it Angie?" came the reply finally.

"Emergency! There are dark figures closing in on your house. They're heading for the babies' bedroom. Wake your Mom and Dad."

Even as she sent that mind message Angie burst into her parents' bedroom, repeating basically the same message aloud. Chris and Jill Redfield snapped awake. Without wasting time they grabbed the weapons they kept close at hand and headed for the Angie's room. Chris snatched up a modified radio and in a low voice broadcast the alarm. Throughout the settlement men and women hastily dressed, armed themselves and prepared to respond to the threat at hand.

One of those radios was in Alice and Carlos' bedroom. Even asleep Alice had been stirring restlessly as her unconscious mind caught the edges of Angie's mental communication to K-Mart. Tired or not both survivors were instantly awake and ready for trouble. They sprang from their bed and made for the babies' room.

K-Mart had not taken time to dress. She had taken her Walther .380 automatic from her night stand and rushed to her brother and sister her terrier "Sparkles" at her heels. Since she was wearing no more than a floppy t-shirt and panties she had no place to holster her weapon when she snatched her tiny siblings from their cribs. Therefore she was unarmed when the bedroom window shattered from the grenade thrown though it.

Fortunately the grenade was a "flash-bang" type, designed to stun from its bright light and ear-splitting report. Also the teen had bolted for the door the moment she had the babies in her arms so her back was turned to the explosion. Still it drove her to her knees although she clung to little Alice and little Carlos, refusing to drop them. Rather she twisted around to fall on her back in order to avoid landing on them. The impact drove the breath from her but she hung on for dear life.

The third thing that told in the defenders' favor was that in order to avoid damaging their Night Vision Goggles or their eyes the attackers had to wait until the stun grenade had gone off and the light faded. The result of that was that when the snatch team of four jumped through the window there was nothing between them and two enraged and extremely capable parents who were already surging through the door.

The mingled roar of a Galil assault rifle and two machine pistols stretched two Umbrella commandos on the floor and blew the other pair back out the window before they could fire a shot. K-Mart stayed down, wiggling on her back out into the hallway while covering her brother and sister as best she could. In the hallway she found her pistol where she had kicked it with one bare foot after setting it down to free her hands. Squirming to an inside corner she positioned herself so the babies were sheltered by her body and she could sweep most of the hallway with her regained weapon. She vowed that anyone trying to get her siblings was going to get them over the dead body of one really angry older sister.

Outside in the darkness the team leader cursed under his breath. In one moment everything had gone to hell. Guns opened fire from several locations behind his people. The thunder of what had to be a large caliber shotgun all but picked up one of his rear guard men and flung him through the air to fall limp and bleeding from multiple wounds.

Retreat was not an option. Chairman Wesker did not forgive failures. He broke radio silence and instructed the covering team to lay down a suppressing fire while he rallied the remainder of his troops for an all out assault on the target.

For a moment the fire from the surprised but rapidly assembling villagers died down as the four covering team men opened up with their belt fed light machine guns. Hastily the team leader gave instructions and directed his surviving raiders.

As he rose to lead the charge he realized that only three machine guns were still firing. When they started forward in a rush the number fell to two. His keen ear sorted through the conflicting sounds, picking out a deep single report that reduced his covering fire to a single weapon.

"Sniper!" he thought. "And a damn good one," he added grimly. The defenders' fire increased and he knew the chances of them accomplishing their mission were falling to near zero. Still, he took point in the mad dash to the target house.

Three weapons spat from the window his first assault force had gone through. Since intelligence had shown there were two adults and a teenager present in the house besides the targets it seemed likely all three were firing from that position. At the last possible moment he jumped sideways and plunged through the bedroom window to the left. Barely managing to keep his balance he careened through what was obviously a teenage girl's room and through the door.

Something caught his feet as he staggered into the hallway. He fell even as he realized he had tripped over bare legs belonging to the teen whose room he had just passed through, a teen he had thought was in the other room. He managed to turn his fall into a roll, ending up on his side facing back the way he had come. His eyes widened as he realized that sheltered by the teen's body were the very infants he had been sent to secure, or if he was unable to take them to eliminate them.

He had admitted doubts to himself when he received those orders. The idea of killing children was repugnant to the warrior code he had been raised in but duty was not always pleasant to be performed. He had lost his personal weapon but reached down and pulled a combat knife from his boot. Perhaps he could do this quickly. He raised himself and lunged, right into the barrel of a pistol held in a steady grip and the glare of a pair of unflinching blue eyes.

The final machine gun had fallen silent. Carlos noted that Claire's aim was obviously as good as ever. The last attackers had fallen as Sam, Jill, Chris and even Angie along with the other members of their village had cut down the last of the raiders. And then gunfire, a single weapon, opened fire from behind them out in the hallway. Alice's superhuman speed and agility carried her there in micro-seconds but Carlos was right behind her.

In front of them a black clad figures sprawled on the floor. Smoke curled from the muzzle of K-Mart's Walther, still carefully trained on the fallen attacker. A knife lay near to his hand. A small growling ball of fur still clenched that hand's wrist in its teeth.

The last shots of the attack had been fired. But the actions that would be precipitated by the raid were just beginning.

(To be continued)


	2. Trickery

Showdown, Chapter 2

(Trickery)

"Hush, hush, it's alright," soothed K-Mart as she managed to get to her feet, her arms laden with her brother and sister. The pair were finally expressing their displeasure at being awakened in the middle of the night as well as snatched from their cribs and tucked in a corner with a much larger person on top of them.

While their older daughter soothed her siblings Alice and Carlos, keeping one eye each on their surroundings, searched the fallen body. Alice petted Sparkles and told him what a good dag he was; convincing him to let go. Carlos grunted when they rolled the black clad body over.

"Nice shooting sweetheart."

Alice agreed. The hard-bitten face revealed seemed extremely surprised by the pair of small bullet holes placed nearly side by side right between his eyes.

"I thought we taught you to aim for the center of mass," teased K-Mart's dad.

"It looked like he was wearing body armor," the teen replied calmly. Then what she had done struck her. She started to shake.

The world was a hard place to grow up in. In the years since the onslaught of the T-Virus it had become so hard that it was a wonder that anyone made it at all. K-Mart had shown that she was tough, smart and capable beyond her years from the time she had been left alone by a zombie attack on her original family up till the present. She had scavenged, hid, ran and then learned to kill zombies when she was rescued by Claire Redfield from the store that gave her a new name. She had polished that skill from the first time when, terrified by the Crimson Head tearing the protective screen from the vehicle she had taken refuge in, she snatched the sawed-off shotgun from its rack and fired.

Since then she had killed many of the undead, both former humans and others. One afternoon had been spent on top of an old car dealership with her best friend Angie and Claire as the former convoy leader taught both the teen girls the rudiments of the fine art of sniping. But one thing K-Mart had never done, in battles with modern day pirates or pursuing Umbrella troopers, was kill another living human being.

Although she could not even remember the first time she had to take another life Alice immediately recognized what was happening to her adopted daughter. The adrenaline and shock had worn off and K-Mart was realizing what had happened.

Angie Redfield and her mom and dad had appeared as well as Sam and Claire Treadwell. Making low soothing noises Alice took the babies from K-mart, passing them to their God-parents before enfolding her in her arms. Then both were wrapped up by Carlos and the family stood together for the time it took for K-Mart to recover at least for now. Alice knew there would need to be talking later on but for right now she merely kissed her daughter.

"Well done baby,' she said softly. You saved your brother and sister. You saved all of us. Would you and Angie take the babies, feed them, check their diapers and put them back to bed?"

"Take them to our house," suggested Jill. "This place is a little drafty. Use their car seats for the rest of the night. In the morning we'll start fixing this place."

"Yes ma'am," the two teens chorused. Shortly the adults were alone with the body.

Chris and Jill, both former STARS police officers immediately began to search the other bodies. Friends and neighbors who had responded to the attack helped. In short order all of the attackers were accounted for. Once the discovery was made that the commandoes were Umbrella troops Sam joined in the examinations. Documents were recovered and cross checked until the entire mission of the raiders became clear.

"The son-of-a-bitch," Carlos stated; his face likes an approaching thunderstorm.

"I assume you are talking about the esteemed Chairman Albert Wesker of the well-known and always highly respected Umbrella Corporation," Chris dryly prompted his friend.

"We always knew," Jill said thoughtfully, "that Umbrella is never going to adopt a live and let live philosophy towards us, well, towards anyone in fact. But this last year has been completely quiet, at least as far as anything to do with them has been concerned. So what changed?"

Sam had been intently studying the papers carried by the raiders. In particular he was carefully reading a pocket notebook, of the old fashioned paper kind rather than an electronic one.

"Because while things have been getting better for us, as in all of us here in Alaska and the various groups of survivors we've made contact with around the world, Umbrella is going downhill. And the pace of that slide seems to be accelerating."

The ex-Umbrella pilot waved the notebook in his hand and used it to point to a small stack of papers he had separated from the rest.

"When Umbrella retreated into their underground facilities they figured they would simply wait out the infection and then it would be business as usual. Although I continue to be baffled by just what business they think they'll be conducting with ninety-nine percent of the world's population gone."

"I think," interjected Alice, "based on what we saw of Major Cain and Doctor Isaacs that Umbrella, all the way up to Wesker, sees the world as nothing more than a giant laboratory to experiment in. People aren't important even as customers anymore. They're just subjects. I've read the reports from Raccoon City; Cain was practically beside himself at the idea that he had an entire city where he could watch the effects of the T-Virus."

"Well there's no doubt that Wesker ordered this operation personally," Sam continued. "The raiding party was to take the children if possible and eliminate them if they couldn't get away. But Wesker really wants little Alice and Carlos alive," his face turned grim, "As test subjects."

Chris put a hand out to steady his wife. Jill had blanched and even swayed for a moment, remembering how the Umbrella LA facility had planned to use Angie. Only the greatest of good fortune or the hand of God had allowed the pair of them to penetrate the facility in time to stop what would have nearly been a vivisection of the girl that was now daughter to both of them.

"It gets worse."

"It usually does," said Carlos.

"There's mention of secondary targets. Plural. If possible they were also to take Angie and K-Mart as well"

"Why K-Mart I wonder?" Alice said thoughtfully

"I'm not sure," Sam confessed as he sorted through the papers. "Possibly as leverage against you. Umbrella still thinks they own you after all. Possibly because they think that somehow her being your daughter means she also has some connection to the T-Virus."

"That's ridiculous," observed Carlos.

Chris shrugged. "It's not like we weren't just discussing that Umbrella isn't exactly a rational corporation anymore, assuming it ever was."

The discussion was not interrupted but was broadened rather as other citizens of the village joined the group of friends.

Loosely organized as were most of the survivor settlements in Alaska major decisions were generally reached by town hall meetings of all the citizens. However because sometimes immediate action might be required several elected and generally unpaid officials functioned as mayor, police and fire chiefs, town recorder and the senior local member of the Alaskan National Guard. All of them were friends and had been conducting their own investigation of the incident side-by-side with Jill, Chris and Sam.

"Umbrella without any doubt at all," agreed Bill Henderson, the town's mayor when Sam presented his findings. "I'll notify Juneau first thing in the morning. Turning to the man in uniform he added "Stan I suggest you contact the duty officer at National Guard HQ and advise him of the situation. These people got here somehow and I doubt they walked in so the state needs to find out just how and when it happened."

"And how they planned to get back out," added Lieutenant Stan Grafton of the Alaskan Army National Guard. He turned towards Sam. "Anything in there on their escape route Sam? It would have to be quick and it would most likely be by air. I wouldn't doubt that they believed they could take the whole town but at the same time they would have to allow for resistance and even the possibility someone might get off a call for help."

"Nothing I can find," Sam admitted. "But I would imagine there's a VTOL or two hidden away a short distance at full throttle. Umbrella loves them. They can carry a lot more troops than a helo and cover a great deal of ground. If they could refuel somewhere on the coast of say, Washington or Oregon they could reach Japan."

I response Alice and Jill looked at each other. Immediately they began searching the body of the fallen leader again. After a moment or two of silence Chris cleared his throat. His wife made no acknowledgement of it. Neither did Alice when her husband employed the same thing in an attempt to get her attention. In fact there was nothing until with near simultaneous grunts of triumph Alice extracted a plastic folder and opened it to display a piece of notepaper while Jill produced a small electronic device.

"And we have what here?" asked Claire.

"This is a signal device," Jill replied. "Automated. Hit this button and it will flash a coded signal over a radio channel most likely to the helos or VTOL's we suspect are standing by. Do that and they'll come running."

"But to where?" demanded Carlos. "Surely they have an agreed upon landing zone."

"Right here on this piece of paper," Alice waved it triumphantly. "AND the radio codes for both 'abort' and 'come in the water's fine'. I also see ones for different levels of success."

"Let me see that please," requested Sam. Alice nodded and passed him the paper, still in its protective folder. Carefully Sam slid the paper out, lifted it to the light and studied it. Now it was his turn to grunt.

"And that translates as...?" Claire prompted.

Sam moved so the others could see the paper as he continued to hold it up. "Standard Umbrella trick. See the faint lines that cross each other? They're a reminder that the codes are actually backwards."

"So if we gave the one for 'mission accomplished pick us up' Umbrella would know it was a fake message."

"Uh-huh. And would either avoid the area or even possibly come in guns blazing. You can bet their heavily armed."

"Wonder why this was marked," mused Jill thoughtfully. "This guy didn't strike me as the type who would need reminders like that."

Probably not but if he was down, dead or incapacitated one of his men might need the memory jog."

"So we know everything then?" Alice asked, looking round at her friends.

"Wait a minute," Bill held up his hand. "You're going to flash that code and try to lure one or two possibly heavily armed aircraft in here, no doubt to capture them?"

"Uh-huh. Is there a problem?"

"Nope. Just wanted to make sure I knew what was going on."

"Okay then. Here's my plan." Everyone tightened around Alice, with the sole exception of Jill who went to check on her daughter, K-Mart and the babies. In a very brief amount of time the details were hammered out among all of them and the participants were scattering to carry out their assigned roles. Alice and Carlos looked at each other and nodded.

"They are going to regret they didn't leave us alone."

(To be continued)


	3. Trap

Showdown, Chapter 3

(Trap)

The Umbrella Corporation VTOL pilot was too seasoned a veteran to fidget or drum his fingers or indeed betray any sign of nervousness or impatience. That didn't mean he didn't feel both; he just kept it bottled up inside. Only his eyes continually flicking to the digital clock mounted on the dash gave him away. That clock was counting down the last few minutes before he was to assume the mission had failed; releasing him to return to Japan.

The prospect didn't thrill him, home though it was and the safety of the huge buried Umbrella complex. It would be up to him to report the failure to Chairman Wesker. Not that he had anything to do with the failure but the Chairman had taken to venting his anger on the bearers of bad news. The fact that he tended to calm down and even seem regretful at his actions did little good for the unfortunates who found themselves summarily ejected from the facility onto the zombie haunted streets of Tokyo.

His stern upbringing and training kept him from uttering a sigh of relief when the communication officer in the rear compartment buzzed him to announce the electronic signal had been received indicating success and calling for pick-up. Taking just a moment to swallow hard he fired up the engines and directed the other man to forward the news to Umbrella central. The second VTOL followed his lead and both ships lifted and then transitioned to level flight.

The two aircraft took the nap of the earth route to their destination, depending on Night Vision goggles and terrain mapping radar to keep them from hitting a tree or a handy hillside. An alarm beeped as they approached the target area and both craft pulled up sharply. The wings and engines rotated, returning them to hover as every pair of eyes searched for the visual signal.

"On your left Leader," the other pilot reported. The first pilot nodded as he saw the strobe flashing from the open field to the South of the small town. He began to descend. Seeing figures in Umbrella combat uniforms lying down and being tended to he directed the second ship to pick up the wounded.

The moment he touched down two figures sprinted for the side door, which the crew chief was pulling open. One carefully carried two small bundles while the second dragged a teenaged girl who, in spite of being gagged and having her hands tied behind her, was putting up a tremendous struggle. Good, he nodded again. Not only had the primary targets been acquired but one of the secondary ones as well. He activated the intercom and told the commo officer to flash that news to Tokyo immediately.

From force of habit he kept scanning the area. He saw the pocket of black clad men collapsing on the two aircraft in proper fashioned. His ship lurched as the troops assigned to it poured on board. He reminded himself to allow for the weight of the new passengers and then smiled. All total the trio wouldn't amount to more than fifty kilos.

The ship lurched again, this time almost violently. He corrected and tried to determine the problem. The swaying became even more pronounced.

"Go see what the problem is," he instructed his copilot. The man nodded, unstrapped and disappeared back into the passenger compartment. Shortly there was one more shake and the vehicle steadied. The helmeted copilot returned and sat back down.

"What in the world was all that shaking?"

The figure raised its visor revealing a face that bore no resemblance to his copilot.

"Sorry, it was just us taking over the aircraft."

As seasoned a veteran as the pilot was his mouth dropped open and he took moments to react, moments that he didn't have. He tried to toggle the switch that would take him off intercom and allow him to broadcast a warning. He failed, never even seeing the silenced pistol in the man's hand.

"Damn," Sam Treadwell muttered as he pushed the pilot's body away from the controls and set the VTOL down. The former Umbrella pilot hated to shoot another aircraft driver and had hoped to take him alive. But no chances could be taken of allowing him to send a warning. He cut the engines as the craft settled. He peered at the second VTOL and was relieved to see it copying his actions. VERY relieved as the other hijacking pilot was his wife Claire.

Back in the passenger compartment Carlos and Alice looked at each other and heaved mutual sighs of relief. The hastily contrived ambush seemed to have proved successful. They now had two aircraft capable of getting a raiding party to Japan and the chance to slip that party inside the Umbrella Headquarters complex.

Three Umbrella personnel had survived the attack. Assisted by Stan Grafton who was trained in Intelligence the former police officers Jill and Chris questioned them. At the same time Sam and Carlos conducted a search of the electronics aboard while Alice and Claire inventoried the very useful cargo. Neighbors were helping Bill Henderson stack the equipment they took from the bodies of the attackers. Ammunition and weapons were always welcome, the former even more so nowadays although Alaska had an ammunition factory running, mostly producing the commonest combat calibers. The night vision goggles were extremely prized, There wouldn't be any more of those made.

The sextet of friends got together with Stan and Bill and sat down in the town hall meeting room where Sam and Stan had spread out the documents taken from the bodies and the helos along with the notes they had made from the interrogation of the surviving attackers. Surprisingly K-Mart and Angie joined them, K-Mart informing her mom that neighbors were watching the twins, neighbors who were motherly, armed to the teeth and ready for anything.

"What do we have?" asked Alice.

"Nothing good," replied Chris. Stan nodded in agreement and took over.

"Let me summarize what we know for sure and then tell you what we, that being Chris and Jill and I, extrapolate from this stuff and the interrogations."

A murmur of agreement swept the room.

"Okay then. We know for sure that Albert Wesker, Chairman of Umbrella Corporation specifically ordered a mission with the objective of kidnapping Alice and Carlos' infant children. The purpose of this was to obtain them in order to study the secondary effects of the T-Virus and what, if anything, might be transmitted by DNA. If any of the abilities that are the result of your bonding with the virus on that cellular level could be passed on to your children it might be possible to pass them in other ways."

"A secondary consideration was the taking of both K-Mart and Angie. K-Mart, who is listed as 'the teen female residing with Project Alice' was targeted because of the belief that she might also be your birth child Alice. And Angie, described here as 'Angela Ashford also known as Angela Valentine' because of oh her exposure to the virus and the antivirus too."

Stan looked around the room. "There is one piece of really encouraging news in these descriptions, especially that of Angie."

"What's that?" Angie herself asked.

"The part calling you 'Angela Valentine'. This suggests to me that Umbrella is depending on Satellite intelligence and perhaps also monitoring radio and other open-air communications. I believe they are short on 'Humint' or Human Intelligence."

"You mean informants." said Chris.

"Informants, spies, undercover operatives, whatever. If Umbrella HAD them they would know that Angie has been 'Angela Redfield' for over a year now, ever since Jill married Chris and he formally adopted her. Therefore there's no informant here in the village or up at State, at least in the records office. So whatever is decided here will not be likely to get back to Wesker."

"But you believe we will have to decide something," Alice said.

"Yes." Stan took a deep breath. "Here's where we get more into reading between the lines. From what we, that is Sam, Chris and I, can tell if this mission is a failure that is NOT going to be the end of it. The extraction of the children is a top-priority and as we all know from Umbrella's history nothing stands in the way when they decide that."

Alice nodded. "Look at what the damn fools did in Raccoon City after all. You would think that when you lose your entire staff AND the team you send in to find out what happened you would slow down for a moment and go 'Let's think this though'. But no, they reopened the hive. Then they thought they could contain the infection to Raccoon City. Nope, wrong again. So what next? They STILL act as though it s all temporary setbacks; that the original goal is worth pursuing even after they've destroyed ninety-nine percent of the world."

A murmur of agreement swept the room.

Stan nodded. "So you can be sure they'll try again. Not only for the infants and for the teens but also because they, or rather he as I assume Chairman Wesker is at the heart of it all, thinks that this action would make you Alice, 'Project Alice' as the papers put it, agree to return to the Umbrella fold."

Alice shook her head. "Obviously I..."

"We," chorused Carlos, Chris and Jill."

"WE," Alice smiled at the correction, "would do anything for our children but at the same time we know that Umbrella would have no intention of living up to any bargains it made with us for the safe return of the babies, K-Mart or Angie."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Mikey is running some serious computer security sweeps to make sure our landline phones are not compromised." Heads bobbed again. The former computer guru of Claire's convoy was one of the very best and he had much more equipment than of old and that he had was vastly more state of the art than what had been in his vehicle. "Once that's confirmed I'm getting in touch with Guard HQ and have them check with the remaining NORAD network. Those radars need to be on high alert for a secondary force while we figure out what to do."  
"I don't think that there's any doubt as to what we need to do," Alice said firmly and calmly but everyone could see the anger building in her eyes. "It's time we take the fight to them."

"More than that," added Carlos. "I think it's past time we settle Umbrella's hash and that of Chairman Albert Wesker once and for all."

(To be continued) 


	4. Loading Up

Showdown, Chapter 4 by patricia51

(Loading Up)

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly."

Everyone stared at Carlos. K-Mart's jaw even dropped.

"What? I can't quote Shakespeare? Old Bill knew what he was talking about. We have an opportunity here. I agree with Stan. Umbrella is never going to leave us alone. So we need to stop waiting on them and strike first for a change."

"You're right," agreed Alice. She looked thoughtful. "I'm just always amazed at your depths honey. First I find you're a devote of musical theatre and now Shakespeare?"

"Discovering new things about your partner always helps keep the marriage fresh," Carlos returned. "But let's get back to the point."

Stan nodded. "This is an opportunity that won't come around again. These two helos can drop a combat team right in on Umbrella Headquarters. From what I've learned a small band wouldn't normally stand a chance of even getting in the front door. But the beauty of this is that we would be inside their defences before they even knew they were being attacked."

"We?" Alice lifted an eyebrow.

Stan nodded confirmation. "While I have a very strong feeling that you all are going I want in as well. Me and a few of the toughest, on-the-bounce Guard personnel I can grab in time." He looked around. "I know you think this is a personal matter and in spome ways it is. But Umbrella just attacked Alaska, attacked all of us when they attacked you. we need to hit back along with you to show them, Umbrella and everyone else, that you can't raid us and just walk away." He grinned. "Now maybe if you had something like twenty clones of Alice you could do it by yourself but obviously that's not possible."

Alice smiled and acknowledged Stan's compliment. "How long will it take you to get these people?"

"If I call now, by the time you are ready to go they'll be here."

"How many?" asked Chris.

"Assuming the six of you I would say six more. After all, Umbrella is going to expect that they took casualties in the attack so it's a reasonable number."

Carlos looked over the assembled group, receiving nods from the others. "Do it Stan. Please."

The moment the Guard officer was out the door the explosion that Carlos and Alice and Chris and Jill had been waiting for happened.

"What do you mean the six of you?" burst out Angie.

"You are NOT going without us!" declared K-Mart at the same time.

"Yes we are baby," Carlos said in his best I-WILL-be-obeyed father's voice. He immediately softened it as he stepped to his daughter and put an arm around her, "I know how you feel but think it over. Obviously we can't take the babies with us so you are going to have to stay here and protect them,"

"And she's going to need your help sweetheart," Jill told her own beloved teenager.

It wasn't settled that easily. Arguements were put forward, mostly centered around Angie's telepathic powers and her connection with K-Mart. They were refutted calmly, the adults pointing out that was one of the main reasons the two teenaged girls were the ideal guardians for the infants. Tears were met with even stouter resistance although Alice had to brace up Carlos who had a tendancy to cave in when faced by their daughter's puppy dog eyes and quivering lower lip. Finally the teens gave in.

"Alright," Angie proclaimed, "but WE will decide how to best protect the twins. No micro-managing from half way around the world.

Jill and Chris sucessfully smothered smiles, instead pasting serious expressions on their faces.

"You're absolutely right," Chris soothed his daughter and then thoughfully adding "We have complete faith in you two to react properly to an crisis."

Recalling how the pair of teen girls had saved the day, albiet by disobeying specific instructions to stay put, in the cave complex on the California coast the group nodded in agreement. They were inventive, smart and street savvy far beyond their years.

It was within an hour of his departure that Stan returned. By then the sextet's friends and neightbors had helped them assemble twelve sets of Umbrella uniforms complete to the face concealing helmets that the group hoped would hide their identities up to the moment they launched their attack. Sam and Claire carefully preflighted the VTOLs. Fortunately the always anal retentive Umbrella corporation had made sure the crafts were stocked with both complete pilot and mechanic manuals which the two married pilots studied intently. They brought them along to the final meeting,

Stan introduced the five individuals he had brought back with him. The three men and two women all looked extremely capable. One of the women, Chris Street, was a former LAPD SWAT officer who had escaped to Alaska with her two children and lived here in the village. The other, Jennie Gartman, had come even farther, being a US Border Patrol agent who had made her way all the way here from Texas.

"When things fell completely apart I thought about trying for an island off the Georgia coast," Jennie told the group, unaware that Jill and Angie had once tried to reach that refuge themselves. "But not only did I figure it would be near impossible to cross the Mississippi River but I would have had to go too close to too many populated centers. The road up here was a lot longer but I was able to plan it to pretty much stay out in the wilderness."

Of the three guys two of them, Mike and William were ex US Army Rangers while Trent had been a RCMP sergeant before the collapse. All had found Umbrella uniforms to somewhat fit them although they elected to carry their own weapons, mostly M-4's with Glock sidearms although Chris stuck with her MP-5 from her LAPD days and a Kimber Custom TLE II 45. However the four Umbrella light machines guns were loaded two to a helo for possible use in the upcoming assault."

There was one unexpected holdup, which was Chris's two children. Eliza was a teenager while Jimmie was approaching three. However that was solved when K-Mart pipped up.

"They can stay with us. Jimmie's cute and I've always wanted to get to know Eliza."

"And Sally and Marian," Angie added immediately, referring to the two teens that Sam and Claire had found during the trek back from LA and adopted upon theiure return and and marriage.

"In fact," said Chris thoughtfully, "why don't you all stay over at our house? Move there now before daylight so if those pendajos are watching via satelitte they won't see you."

"That sounds like a plan," approved Alice.

"Speaking of plans," put in Stan, "with the material we have recovered from the helos and the bodies we have a better idea of what to expect at Umbrella Headquarters but that still isn't much. We know where the concealed landing site is and how to open the doors but not much more than that. So we'll mostly be making this up as we go along. We'll have to share any information we come across immediately but overall improvisation is the key."

Mikey had hastily modified the Umbrella helmets, adding a second channel to the built in radios which would allow for fairly secure communication between the team members while also allowing them to answer any transmissions from Umbrella.

"Speaking of keys, the ultimate objective is Chairman Wesker. But since we have no idea as to the defences there we may be running into a dozen guards or hundreds. Remember, we want to hurt Umbrella, teach them they are not immune to payback. It would be great to destroy the headquarters butr let's not lose sight of the main objective, which is getting everyone home alive," warned Carlos.

Bill Henderson had seen to the refueling of the helos and had them inspected by the two local mechanics. Although aircraft was neither's specialty both were extremely able; like most of the survivors they were capable of turning their hands to pretty much anything. Sam and Claire primarily were trained as chopper pilots but of course had started flying in fixed wing aircraft. Carefully they fired up the second VTOL, lifted off and transitioned to level flight. They circled the town and landed, repeating it several times while taking turns piloting the craft.

"We can fly it," Sam said confidently. "The hardest part is switching from vertical to horizonal and back again of course but you just have to pay attention."  
The group stood quietly for a moment. "Well," Carlos said quietly, "I guess we better get on the aircraft and go."

Mikey, after searching old airline routes, with had provided a flight plan that would take them to Japan with plenty of fuel to spare. The sophisicated equipment in the VTOL's meant they would be able to follow the route almost mile by mile the entire way with only minimal guidance. Stan had quietly cleared the flight with the Guard radars that watched the state's borders since they didn't plan to fly nap-of-the-earth as the attackers had.

Stan, Alice and Carlos decided to ride with Sam to continue planning as best as they could. Chris and Jennie would be with them. Mike, William and Trent joined Chris and Jill in Claire's aircraft. Only one thing was left to do.

Carlos and Alice wrapped their older daughter up in their combined arms and held her tightly.

"Take care of your brother and sister baby girl," Carlos said. "I love you."

"I love you too Daddy."

Carlos kissed the twins and climbed into the aircraft without looking back. Jill and Chris parted from Angie amid a flurry of hugs and kisses as Chris, now by mutual agreement going by her full name Christina to avoid confusion, did the same with her daughter and son. That left only Alice and K-Mart.

"Be careful Momma. Come back home."

"I promise sweetheart. And I always keep my promises."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you too."

Minutes latter the two black aircraft lifted off and headed to the West. On the ground a small knot of teen girls holding their siblings watched until the VTOL's faded from sight.

"Well, we better get busy," K-Mart said, firmly refusing to cry. The other girls nodded. By mutual, if unspoken, agreement they walked to the Abernathy-Olivera house first to get what K-Mart and the twins would need for a few days at Eliza's. Then they would swing by Angie's home.

"Don't forget your shotgun," advised Angie.

"You bet. If Umbrella comes calling I plan to be ready."

(To be continued)


	5. New Friends, Part 1

Showdown, Chapter 5

(New Friends, Part 1)

(Okay, yes, for those wondering Christina IS borrowed from the movie SWAT. Since Rain Ocampo couldn't be with us I thought it would be fun to have another one of Michelle Rodriguez's tough girl characters drop in to the story.)

THe flight was mind-numbing. No wonder so many Umbrella troopers acted as if they were automotrans Alice thought. The constant vibration and the roar of the engine was enough to try to put you to sleep and at the same time make sure you stayed awake. So to keep from losing their edge the group gathered by the pilots' seats and talked.

Fortunately once the craft is in level flight there's an autopilot so Sam could join the discussion. Not that he neglects the insturments and controls of course, he's far too good an aviator for that. Of all of the surivors he, along with Carlos, had the best feel for Umbrella as far as people and policies went so his input is invaluable. Alice may have actually worked longer for the corporation since she had become head of security for the most important lab outside of Umbrella corporate headquarters itself but even now she remembered only bits and pieces of her life prior to the accident at the Hive and the resultant gassing she had undergone courtesy of the Red Queen.

"Based on what we know fropm other facilities we can expect a guard force. And it will be well trained and competently led and the officers at least will be loyal to the Chairman personally rather than to Umbrella," started Sam.

"Makes sense," agreed Stan. "easier to be dedicated to a person rather than a corporate entity. It's not like patriotism or for people like Christina, Jennie and Trent who were dedicated to upholding the law. But people have to believe in SOMETHING after all."

The group discussed possible courses of actions but finally admitted that they simply didn't have enough information to form a detailed plan.

"We'll just have to make it up as we go along," Carlos said.

"Fortuntaely we all are experienced in doing that," Alice nodded. "Or we wouldn't be here."

"Hopefully that will prove to be the difference," contributed Jennie, "while the group that attacked you was good, very good in fact with an excellent plan when that plan went wrong only the leader seemed capable of improvising. The rest simply waited for orders and when he fell that was it. And they were Umbrella's best from what Stan and Sam say. So we have one advanatage over them."

Alice noted that Jennie's hands tightened on her well worn but also well cared weapon. Everyone else had automatic weapons but, like Sam, Jennie favored a shotgun of the pump action often used by police because of the unmistakable sound of the action being worked. It was backed up by both a Glock and a heavy Smith and Wesson revolver.

"I suspect," Alice said quietly, just loud enough to be heard over the engine roar, "that your dealings with Umbrella predate the infection Jennie."

"Yes."

"Tell us about it?"

(Jennie's Story)

A female FBI agent that I had the utmost respect for once told me the movie she hated the most was "Pretty Woman". I didn't understand why. After all what's not to love? Hooker meets corporate raider, they fall in love and in one of the great movie finales he becomes Prince Charming to her Cinderella and they live happily ever after.

She told me the problem was that Richard Gere really isn't out there to sweep a prostitue off her feet and carry her away to a life of wealth, luxury and love. But foreign girls don't know that. They see themselves as Julia Roberts and when a recruiter for what promises to be an escort service shows up in a small town in Russia or one the former Soviet republics promising passage to America these girls, all of whom have see the movie, fall for it.

What they don't know is that they are going to smuggled into the US. For many years the most common entry point was the Port of New York. The didn't know they would come in packed into a cargo container like animals and that one out of four will die on the voyage. They don't know that they'll be crammed in the back of atruck and carried to a house, sometimes in the city sometimes all over the country, that they will never leave. They don't know there is no Richard Gere, that the men who come and use her body don't care what happens to her.

She was told that she would earn enough money to live on and all she would have to do is pay back the cost of her passage. That's never going to happen. She never sees any money. If she asks she's told it all goes for her upkeep and heaven help me her room rent. If she persists she is beaten. Beaten carefully because most men don't want to see those marks. Of course some do and they pay extra to be allowed to be violent with her. Quite often she is deliberately hooked on drugs to keep her in line.

The recruiters look for young attracftive women who don't speak English or at least not much of it. If they manage to escape from the house they have no money, nowhere to go and no one to help them. They're afraid of the local police; where they come from there is no Officer Friendly. If they DO get away they most likely will be caught and when they are caught the people running the operation make an example of them in ways so horrible that not even a pack of zombies could duplicate them.

You may wonder what this had to do with me. The Russian Mafia ran most of tbis traffic, it was an FBI responsibility and as I already said most of the traffic came in through NYC with the remainder mostly funneled through Boston. There was a slight Aisan traffic through LA but none of that should have had any breaing on the job I was doing on the Texas-Mexico border right?

Beginning a couple of years before the collapse we started hearing rumors that a new smuggling pipeline of illegals had opened up down where we were. One dedicated to bringing in young Hispanic women for the slave prostitution trade. That's when I met my FBI friend, she came down to help get a joint FBI/Border Patrol/Texas Rangers task force organized. I was appointed the Border Patrol liason to that task force.

We had to be careful. The Mexican Mafia was one of the most ruthless organizations on the Earth. Even the Russians could take lessons from them. Generally they confined their terror tactics to south of the border. And those tactics worked. They had about cornered cross border smuggling by the simple action of mudering any coyote they caught who didn't work for them and slaughtering everyone he was smuggling. Well publicized they were rapidly terrifying everyone into only using their guides to cross. That also gave them a near monopoly on the drug mules as well.

I had come across the results of one of those attacks on poor independant people just trying to get to the US. Although my job was to stem the flow of illegals and I worked hard at it they certainly didn't deserve such treatment. So I jumped at the opportunity to work with the task force.

We were good. The Rangers' Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers along the Texas-Mexico border and Coastal Bend area of the state controlled a network of intelligence operations and informants that we Federal agencies could never have matched. At the same time we had access to funding and weapons and equipment far beyond that of the state authorities. All together we made bust after bust. We basically stopped the flow of women through the state and made a substantial dent in the drug traffic and the flow of illegals.

Perhaps we were too good.

(Jennie's flashback)

Two women crouched in the bushes on the edge of an abandoned irrigation ditch. Both wore dark blue jackets. The brunette's was emblazoned in "FBI" in gold letters across the back. The one worn by the blonde read "Border Patrol". Both wore headset radios and the unzipped jackets revealed the Kevlar vests underneath. The FBI agent carried a readied Glock while the Border Patrol officer held a pump shotgun. They peered at a ranshackale adobe brick building a few hundred feet from their hiding place.

The brunette lifted a pair of night vision and scanned the area. She grunted softly in satisfaction. Letting the glasses hang free from the strap around her neck she touched the communications headset.

"Everyone check in," she said in a low voice. After a few moments she turned to the woman beside her and flashed a thumbs up signal. The pale light of a waning moon showed the grins that lit both faces

"Here we go," said the blonde.

The pair clasped hands. The temptation to be more demonstrative was nearly overwhelming but they both tamped their feelings down. The pair had grown increasingly close over the last months, much closer than anyone was aware of and certainly more so than either's department would have approved. But they were professionals and acted as such although their grins promised a great deal more later. "This is the big one," replied the other woman.

Both Jennie Gartman and Emily Prentiss tried to hold down their excitement. After months of pursuing leads they were on the trail of something really big. They had busted small and mid-level criminals, intercepted large shipments of drugs and freed a number of women destined for the underground brothels. And Emily's relentless piecing together of bits and pieces had led them here, to the jackpot.

In this dilapidated place were not only several of the tops aides of the Mexican Mafia but also reportedly the largest shipment of drugs to cross the border in the last three years. Added to that the report that this place was also used as a holding pen for a shiptment of girls bound for Las Vegas and the two women were barely able to contain themselves. They moved forward. As they got closer Jennie could see the forms of the other FBI agents moving in. Additional Border Patrol agents were out of sight, having thrown a ring around the area to prevent any surprises by additional drug cartel members.

Two white ten gallon Stetsons marked the pair of Texas Rangers assigned to the bust. Gruff, reserved Roland Sharp only nodded but Ranger Maggie Swanson gave a smile and a wink to the other two law-enforcement women. The foursome readied their weappons. The Rangers covered the boarded up windows while the entry team of FBI agents brought up the two man door buster.

"One, two, THREE," commanded Emily.

Swung by four brawny arms the steel tool did its job. The door popped out of its frame, ripped from its hinges and the agents poured in souting "Federal officers!". Flashlights mounted under weapons snapped on, bathing the old living room and its rotted furniture in light.

The empty deserted room. The room with its dust and cobwebs intact except in one place where a single set of footprints led into and then out of the room.

Emily grasped the situation immediately.

"It's a trap," she yelled. She grabbed Jennie and shoved her towards the doorway. "Everybody out!"

Jennie stumbled, falling through the doorway, barely holding on to her shotgun. Her eyes met her friend's as the other girl started towards the door herself.

"Emily!" Jennie screamed.

Then the world seemed to explode and the Border Patrol officer's world went dark.

(To be continued)

(PS. Major happenings at work this coming week and then I hope to go on vacation for a few days. I'll try to get chapters up on schedule but I may fall behind for a while.)


	6. New Friends, Part 2

Showdown, Chapter 6 by patricia51

(New Friends, Part 2)

(LOL, Yes to a couple of my dear friends. Emily IS Emily Prentiss from "Criminal Minds". The pair of Texas Rangers are from another movie as well. Nope. Not telling. Not yet anyway.)

(Present)

"I regained consciousness in the hospital several days later. I was lucky, or at least that's what they told me. I had a nasty gash on my head from flying debris which apparently had proven harder than my thick skull."

"Emily?" asked Carlos although the look on the former Border Patrol agent's face already had answered his question.

Jennie shook her head. "There was barely enough left of the entry team to provide positive identification. Emily's funeral was a closed casket affair. The pall bearers were members of her old Behavioral Analysis Unit, one that specialized in profiling and analyzing serial killers and other hard to catch deadly criminals. They were all grief stricken by her loss."

"One of them, a tall handsome black guy whose name I can't remember right now, mentioned quietly to the team's techno expert that the explosion must have been awful as the casket weighed practically nothing at all. I don't think I was supposed to hear that or her reply."

"What was the reply?" inquired Alice. "And why did you think you weren't supposed to hear it?"

"It was one of those little asides between close friends and there just seemed to be overtones of some knowledge they shared that outsiders, namely me, weren't privy to. She said 'you don't suppose...' and she hesitated for a moment and then added one word 'again?' He looked thoughtful but then they saw me standing there and came over to offer their condolences again. Nothing more was said later that I heard that could have explained it." private

"They knew you were friends." commented Sam.

Jennie might have blushed but if she did the recovery was so quick the embarrassment came and went in a flash. "Emily had stayed in touch with them. They were aware that we were much more than friends and treated me accordingly even though our relationship was non-official and low-key."

The other members of the sextet were quiet for a while. All had lost friends and loved ones before; during the collapse of civilization and even before then but that didn't lessen the pain they all knew Jennie was feeling. After a while Alice spoke up.

"Obviously you were set up. Did you ever find out by whom? And exactly why?"

"The official position was that it was a trap set by the Mexican drug cartels."

"But you don't seem to believe it."

"I might have but there were too many inconsistencies. The cartels, as bloody as they were, kept those activities on below the border. As damaging as our raid might have been it seemed unlikely it would have been so strong a blow that it was worth seriously raising the stakes, especially as they simply could have moved the meeting. After all, they HAD been tipped off."

"By...?" Carlos raised an eyebrow.

"Never proved. But one of the FBI agents who was on the support staff left government employment not long after the raid for a lucrative position in private industry. Care to guess what corporation he went to work for, conveniently located in a country overseas wit5h no extradition treaty with the US?"

"Umbrella DOES have a reputation for hiring government employees," Alice admitted. "Both Carlos and I were lured away by offers of a LOT more money; him from the Air Force and me from the Treasury Department."

"But you weren t under suspicion of being involved in the deaths of five Federal officers at the time," pointed out Jennie.

"No."

"It was moot anyway," Jennie shrugged. "By the time I got out of the hospital the strike force had been disbanded. Disbanded? I had been vaporized. The offices had been stripped to the walls and everyone reassigned to places like Guam with no one within a thousand miles of anyone else. Files? Evidence? Records? Disappeared as though they had never existed. The apartment that Emily and I shared had been ransacked. Notes and copies of files had been taken and our computers wiped clean. Even our private vehicles had been searched."

"With the team scattered there was only Roland, Maggie and I left in Texas. Roland was a bulldog on a case and wanted to stay on it but he had recently got married to a very nice and very lovely professor at a college where he had been working undercover. Not only that but the same college had offered him a job and his daughter, whom he had reestablished a relationship with after a long estrangement, was attending there as well. Maggie and I both wore him down. So he retired and we pursued what leads we could. He did turn over his case notes and whoever was cleaning up had been reluctant to try for Ranger Headquarters so Maggie still had hers as well."

"We did begin to discover some things. And they all pointed towards Umbrella. At first, even with what took place with the suspected informer we just couldn't understand it. Why would such a huge, multi-national corporation be mixed up in this? Just for the money? Sure it was considerable but compared to what they turned on a daily basis it was chicken feed. But still we looked and the more we found the more we were sure they were not only involved but possibly the driving force."

"The money sure," Alice said thoughtfully. "Umbrella never missed an opportunity to make an extra buck or two. Plus back in those days they were a little bit more circumspect about their illegal activities; not just those with what you were investigating but others. It would have been nice to have the drug cartels to take the blame for their actions. But I suspect that the main reason for their involvement brings us right back to where we all are today. Illegal bio research and the need for experimental test subjects. Illegal immigrants are perfect; they can vanish and no one even knows about it. Plus hell, they probably had a piece of the action with those whorehouses."

Alice returned her attention to Jennie. "I am assuming that you weren't able to get anything done, since nothing of this ever reached the press, the courts or heck even people like me inside Umbrella."

"No," the woman sighed. "Maggie's house was set on fire and she barely escaped a drive by shooting that was, of course, attributed to the cartels or brushed off as 'random'. And then a try was made for me.

(Flashback)

Most people when awakened in the middle of the night have the same reaction. They wonder what woke them. They lie there and strain their ears and peer into the darkness. When nothing happens; when they hear nothing and see nothing they mentally shrug, roll over and go back to sleep.

When Border Patrol Agent Jennie Gartman found her eyes suddenly open she did the same thing at first. She listened, her mind sorting out the noises that filled the night. After all, one could not expect an apartment in the heart of the city to be completely still. But one by one she recognized each sound and discarded it. All of them were familiar; none of them should have woken her. So what did?

One action she had automatically taken was definitely different from the run-of-the-mill. Upon wakening her right hand slipped down the side of the mattress to find the holster fastened there, concealed by the bedcovers. That hand settled on the non-slip grips of her first service weapon, bought when she was a young rookie city officer just starting out in a small Texas college town. She had kept it through during all the intervening years as she progressed from small town to big city to state and finally Federal law enforcement.

She didn't draw the Smith and Wesson Model 686 stainless steel .357 magnum yet. But she gently released the thumb break catch that would allow her to do just that in an instant. She listened and she listened much more intently than an average citizen would have listened. After all, none of them had had their partner, a partner both at work and in life, murdered. None of them had their best friend and fellow investigator attacked twice, once by gunfire and once by arson. So she didn't go back to sleep. Instead she waited. And her watchfulness was rewarded when the faintest creak of the hardwood floor in the living room came to her ears.

Now she slid the S&W free. And she admitted to herself what her old firearms instructor at the academy had proclaimed long ago.

"Certainly you get a lot more firepower from a high capacity auto loader although personally I would go with the forty five over the nine millimeter any day. But when it's dark and you're scared and your hands are sweaty and slippery it's nice not to have to wonder if there's a round in the chamber or if the safety is on or off. With a double-action revolver you just point and shoot."

She slipped from the bed, keeping low as she shifted to a two handed grip on her weapon. Her bare feet moved silently on the carpeted floor. An observer might have thought she had practiced her movements as she avoided the furniture. That observer would be right.

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean little green men from Mars aren't out to eat your brains," an instructor had once told the class she was attending on Officer Survival. "Practice reacting to situations where you spend the most time; at home, at the office, in your car. Most especially at home." Jennie blessed that trainer's words as she crept towards the bedroom door. She was confident that no matter what she had the situation under control.

How wrong she was about that came home about ten seconds later when her bedroom door was eased open and a black cylinder was tossed in.

"Shit!" she thought as she hit the floor, rolling towards the wall and burying her face in a handy pair of discarded jeans. She screwed her eyes tightly closed.

The flash-bang grenade detonated with the might roar and blinding light that was its signature. Because of her actions Jennie came out of her roll still able to see although she wouldn't get the ringing out of her ears for an hour or so. SO when the black clad figure sprang through the door and emptied what seemed like a fifty round magazine of suppressed nine millimeter bullets into her bed she was able to take action, although not in time to save her mattress and bed frame.

"Federal Officer," she shouted, almost loud enough to hear it herself. "Drop the weapon!"

The figure didn't rather hosing bullets around the room as it spun towards her. She fired twice; the hollow point bullets smashing the attacker back. He fell to the floor and didn't get up. Keeping him covered she crawled to the switch and flipped on the light, remembering to close one eye before she did so. Then she crossed to the figure, pushed the weapon away with one bare foot, nearly burning herself on the barrel as she did. Leaning over she pulled the black ski mask from the figure. She had never seen the no-longer breathing man before in her life.

Wearily she surveyed her bedroom. She sure hoped her insurance company would cover this. Crossing to the phone she picked it up and tapped two numbers before reconsidering. She cut the connection and called Maggie and told her what had happened before going back and finishing calling 911. She figured she better have a friendly familiar face here.

(The Present)

"Interestingly the weapon, the recovered spent shells and bullets, the pictures and all the reports vanished from police custody and there was an attempt to press charges on me for excessive use of force. Fortunately I had copies of everything including two bullets dug out of my wall safely stored away and that was dropped."

"Even then we might have carried on. We took what we had to a senior FBI Inspector with Ethical Affairs. Want to guess who else went suddenly to work for Umbrella at an incredible pay scale?" Heads shook. "Thought not. After that they had us beaten. We had nothing." The attractive woman's face turned hard. "They took something precious from me though and I welcome the chance to pay them back."

Jennie held up her hand just as Carlos, Alice and Stan all started to speak. "But rest assured that I am a professional and I will act like one. I will NOT jeopardize others by going off on some wild rampage. I'm a team player.

The others exchanged glances. Satisfied Alice nodded. "Okay, I, we, believe you."

Attention was turned to the other new person in the group. She grinned when she saw their attention, a cocky grin that promised she could live up to the attitude it promised.

"I'm Christina Selena Marie Sanchez Street, former Police Officer Third Grade, D Platoon LAPD SWAT," she began. The grin faded. "And I have cause to hate Umbrella as much as anyone else."

(To be continued)

(Golly I didn't expect to spend so much time with Jennie before getting to Chris. But sometimes the story takes the lead and all I can do is follow where it leads me.)

sp1695


	7. New Friends, Part 3

Showdown, Chapter 7 by patricia51

(New Friends, Part 3)

(Christina's Story)

I grew up on the wrong side of town. But I didn't know it and I didn't care. I liked the part of LA I called home. East LA. Many Hispanics have moved out of the area but it still remained a place vibrant with our culture and proud of our heritage. As I was.

Not that growing up was exactly easy but that was mostly my fault. I got into more than my share of fights. In fact I probably got into several people's shares of fights, mostly because I didn't take crap from anyone. I ran the streets. I was free and I was wild and eventually at the ripe age of nearly seventeen I was pregnant by a boy who magically disappeared the moment he got the news.

I was fortunate. I had support. My mother, my grandmother, my extended family, no one turned their backs on me. But they made it clear that my days as a wild child were over. I went back to school, at night when my mother could keep Eliza and I learned to work off my aggressions with boxing and martial arts. I graduated from high school and joined the police force. After all, the force had health insurance, retirement and better pay than I would get at pretty much anything else I was qualified for by my high school diploma.

Plus I found I LIKED being a cop. I was good at it. I wanted to advance but I had a problem.

Regardless of ethnic background most guys didn't like being taken down by a woman. So in true macho fashion they went crying to Internal Affairs whining that I had used "excessive force" in subduing them. Mind you this was after they bragged "ain't no woman cop taking ME to jail". They were bullshit complaints but once you got a file started with those headhunters it just kept growing. It limited my opportunities to move up. So I tried for sideways instead.

I had always been fascinated by SWAT ever since the first time I saw them take down a pair of "you ain't taking me alive copper" bank robbers without firing a shot. I liked the idea of a small, close-knit team that had access to the kind of training that allowed them to do their job AND stay alive. I met all the qualifications so I applied

Of course I had a problem there too. Nothing I could do about that short of massive surgery and let's face it, I like being a woman. But the Captain of Metro, considered an ass by all who knew and despised him, was definitely NOT going to allow a woman on SWAT. Three applications, three rejections. Oh those rejections didn't say it was because I was female but the rumors that reached me said that Captain Fuller was known to believe that women not only didn't belong on SWAT the only thing they would good for on the force was as meter maids.

So when I was sitting in the hospital ER getting bandaged up once again after an encounter with a pendajo with a razor blade and a Sergeant with another officer came in. I was relieved at first when he said he had the wrong room. I figured they were Internal Affairs and was happy to be rid of them but of course I had to open my mouth and ask who they were looking for and admit I was Chris Sanchez. And a darned good thing too.

Sergeant Second Grade Hondo Lane wasn't IAD. He was SWAT, was forming a new team and he wanted me on it. He hadn't realized I was female but it was irrelevant to him. So I was finally in.

The training was hard, physically and mentally challenging and I loved it. I was a bit prickly with a couple of the guys at first, distrusting offers of a hand while, saying, running up a tall slippery hill in full gear. I wanted to show I was as capable as any of them. I think I started to win them over when I beat the hell out of the heavy bag one day and nearly kicked it off its mounting. I also began to realize that the occasional offers were just from one team mate to another and had nothing do to with my sex.

The first month was a wild ride. We survived the field test, one with things rigged against us by Captain Fuller. We passed our first call perfectly, without having to fire a shot in taking down a dangerous but disturbed man off his meds. And then things went out of this world with us being assigned to deliver an international want to Federal custody. That involved a chase through the subways and sewers of LA, a shootout on a bridge and incidentally me getting shot. But none of that was the most important thing that happened.

When I first saw Police Officer Third Grade Jim Street I figured he was Hondo's driver and therefore a guy on his way up. It was only later I found out this handsome ex-Navy SEAL had been on SWAT and kicked off after his partner disobeyed orders and shot a civilian. Of course that civilian would have been killed by holdup men had he now but it wasn't "by the book" to say the least. Jim's biggest offence though, at least for Captain Fuller, was that he refused to give his partner up under questioning about the incident.

Of course I should have figured out he was that kind of guy from a confrontation we had with his ex-partner one night. The whole team had gone out to celebrate after we passed our team test. But all the guys except Jim ran off after we left the first place, which was run by one of the guy's dad by the way. It was the first time I had found a late night babysitter in months so I did NOT want to go home early. Jim laughed at my chewing out of the guys and we headed off to a watering hole where he used to hang out. And there we met his ex-partner Gamble.

There was some verbal jousting between him and Jim and it spilled over to him and me. Jim just sat there lazily grinning as I gave the guy better than he expected. Jim told me later he was sure I didn't need any help; physically, verbally or emotionally to handle Gamble or anyone else. Did I mention that he told me that several months later from the other side of the pillow?

That was after I impulsively invited him to my daughter Eliza's birthday party the next day. He came and we all had fun, until he and I were called away on a job. But he came back. Often. Sometimes I teased him it was more to see Eliza than me. It was great. Not only did he and I fall in love but my daughter and he did as well. No, I shouldn't say "my daughter". By the time of our wedding Eliza was "our daughter" and Jim was her papa.

So life was better than I ever could have dreamed of it being. I had a wonderful family and an ass-kicking job I loved and was good at. And then Umbrella took it away.

(Christina's Flashback)

"Head shots, head shots!" commanded Sergeant Hondo Lane. "Watch your ammunition. No spraying on full auto; it's not effective and it wastes ammo that we don't have."

Chris knew her MP5 was set on single shot but made a quick inspection of the select switch as she changed magazines. A sinking feeling came over her as her fingers confirmed there was only one more thirty round mag left in her equipment vest. She brought the weapon to her shoulder. Using quick but well aimed shots she dropped the first lines of oncoming figures. To her right she picked up the sound of her husband's M4 assault rifle picking off more of the mass of staggering once human creatures. Somewhere to her left she heard the weapons of the rest of her team as well as those of the few remaining patrol officers. Whole groups of the attackers fell. But it wasn't going to make any difference. The horde of the infected stretched almost out of sight. If they had an unlimited supply of ammo it wouldn't be enough.

How in the HELL had this happened? What had happened? How had the world changed, no, collapsed in the space of only a few hours?

Only this morning she and Jim had been lying in bed, snuggling together after she had woke him early with seduction on her mind. Their team was on standby and she hoped that they would be able to find time for a repeat of their just finished love-making sometime in the afternoon. She definitely planned for it again tonight. In the meantime she was content and purring when Eliza's voice came from the hallway seeking breakfast. But before that she slipped through the door and charged the bed. Squealing happily she jumped onto the bed with her mom and her new dad.

The trio was sitting around the breakfast table planning the day's activities when the beepers went off. "What the Hel... heck," Jim corrected after receiving a look from Chris. He went to the phone. "We're off. And a well-deserved off it is after the last two weeks." He rapidly punched in numbers and spoke urgently to someone at the end of the line. Probably Hondo Chris surmised. After all, he was their team leader as well as one of the few people they had trusted with the knowledge of their secret marriage. Well, maybe not secret, it was a matter of public record in another state but was still something they didn't want spread around. Especially to Captain Fuller.

Jim hung up the phone and turned to her with the most serious expression she thought she had ever seen. He took her arm and guided her away from the table so Eliza couldn't hear.

"This is massive," he spoke urgently. "There is some kind of uncontrollable infection that's turning people into, well, something not human. Everyone has been called. Off duty, suspended, reserve and auxiliary police. The National Guard is being mobilized. We're to join the team along with uniforms and hopefully the military and try to establish perimeters and control the flood of people fleeing, trying to get them to safety of some kind or other."

It was the beginning of a day of that started in crap and rapidly descended all the way into Hell. They rushed Eliza to her grandmother's and reported. The situation was already horrifying. Grotesque caricatures of people and even animals staggered the streets. Bullets only knocked them down. Some had been crushed by panicked people in cars only to drag themselves along in search of normal people. People that they fed on.

At first there had been an attempt to restrain the infected. That quickly ended when it became obvious that a bite from one of them was deadly, would turn the victim into one of whatever the hell they were. The police shot and shot to kill only to discover that their training to shoot for the center of mass was ineffective.

The word came down from Police Headquarters. The unofficial shoot to kill policy was now official. Of course "Aim for the head" could hardly be taken any other way. But that was the last transmission that was even close to be anything like good news. Reports came in of station houses being overrun, of National Guard units being lost before they could even arm themselves. There were broken transmissions from other police positions; despairing calls cut off as the infected closed over other cops, desperate pleas for backup that the listeners knew could never be answered. Police Headquarters broke off in the middle of a frantic, hysterical transmission and fell silent, never to return to the airways.

The team had continued to fall back to where they knew not. About the time that Chris realized that all the uniforms had fallen or fled Hondo called for them to make for the SWAT van. Fortunately the one thing they could do was run faster than the infected. However Chris had a sinking feeling that those others could go on and on day and night when normal people would collapse. She sprinted for the van.

Hondo was passing out ammo when she got there. All of the ammo. Looking grimmer than she had ever seen him the team leader spoke quickly.

"Everything is collapsing. It's apparent that the infection is outracing all containment efforts. Things are coming apart and nothing we can do here is going to stop it. Everyone, try to get to your families and get them out of the city. If you can I suggest going north. I'd suggest some kind of meeting place but honestly I don't think that's ever going to happen. Good luck and Godspeed."

Within the first block Jim and Chris found a four wheel drive SUV abandoned and still running. They screeched off heading home. Small groups of infected were shot or run over, larger groups avoided. Then, only blocks from home they ran into an unexpected obstacle.

"What the hell?" Chris asked.

Normally Jim would have teased her unmercifully since she had been doing her best to get him to watch his language aro9und Eliza but instead he shook his head, slowing the vehicle to a stop at the imperious signal of the black uniformed man standing in the roadway.

"Umbrella Security," the man announced loftily as Jim lowered the window. "We have established a perimeter here for safety. You can't go any further."

"Says who?" snorted Jim, displaying his badge. "When did rent-a-cops start thinking they can give orders to real cops?"

The man reddened and waved the half-dozen or so other armed men over. "Since we took control of the situation."

"Some control. Whatever is going on ahead can't be any worse than what is behind us." Jim pointed back towards the now burning downtown LA. "You would do better to haul ass. Regardless, we're going to go get our daughter. So stand aside or we'll have to shoot you and then arrest you."

Words flew. Losing patience with the idiot Jim started the vehicle moving foward. Which Umbrella goon fired first Chris never knew. But the windshield of the SUV shattered and both SWAT officers dove out of their doors, weapons coming up.

When the gunfire was over the Umbrella goons were scattered in various places on the ground and not moving. But Officer Jim Street was slumped beside the SUV with a bullet in his head.

(The Present)

"There wasn't even time to mourn him," Chris said. "My own husband and I had to leave him by the side of the road. At least, thank God, I was spared having to make sure he stayed dead. But there was only time to rush home and fight off the zombies attacking my mother's house. It was too late for her but she had protected Eliza long enough for me to get there. We found our way out of LA and eventually to Alaska. Nine months and three days after the last night Jim and I spent together the son he would never get to know was born. So I want to take down Umbrella too. But I m also going to make damned sure I get home to my, to Jim and mine, children."

"Amen," Carlos agreed.

(To be continued)


	8. Boots on the Ground

Showdown, Chapter 8 by patricia51

(Boots on the Ground)

Christina touched the holster at her side. "This was my husband's Custom Kimber he carried as a sidearm. It and little Jim are what I have left of him."

"Did you ever find out anything about the rest of your team?" Alice asked softly.

"Nothing for certain. I DID hear a rumor about someone fitting Deke and his family's description having reached one of the floating communities off the Pacific Coast."

"We might look into that when we get back," Alice said thoughtfully. "We made contact with several of those groups on our trek back from rescuing Angie when she was captive in LA."

The remainder of the flight was quiet. Except for Sam the group attempted to rest. Even with the drone of the motors sleep was out of the question. Everyone tried their best to conserve their energy. As they approached the coast of Japan they forced themselves to eat and drink. Weapons were double and triple checked. It was a relief when the countdown began.

"Five minutes," said Alice.

"If they run true to form," Stan reminded everyone, "like they did with Angie in Los Angeles they are going to want the babies and the teen taken immediately to the labs. There should be a party there to escort them. Just refuse to surrender the 'babies'. Insist you captured them and you get to present them to Chairman Wesker. Be arrogant."

Carlos nodded. "Umbrella tends to be regimented. People who claim authority can usually get away with it." He smiled grimly. "And we certainly don't want anyone to peek inside the baby bundles until it's time."

"Meanwhile Jill will be playing the part of Angie. She supposedly will be drugged, requiring Chris and one of the other guys from the second aircraft to carry her. If needed she will 'wake up' enough to struggle, which should help to focus attention on her and away from everyone else."

Heads nodded. Alice took over again.

"The priorities are the labs, communication facilities, transportation and Wesker himself. Without the labs they might let go of their plans for the children. And without commo or transportation they'll be stuck here in their hole in the ground unable to threaten us."

She checked her watch as Tokyo grew larger and closer beneath them "Two minutes."

"Receiving radio transmission," reported Sam. "I have acknowledged. Automated password accepted. Landing beacon on and doors opening."

Peering carefully through the craft's windshield the group saw the roof of what had appeared to be a large storage warehouse split and fold back. Blinking lights showed where both VTOL's were to land. Sam shifted to vertical flight. Alice looked sideways and saw Claire had done the same and was close enough she could see her friend give a quick thumbs up signal. The invaders looked at each other.

"Lock and load."

Charging handles clicked. Safeties were check, Magazines tapped one more time. The team had taken their seats but was poised to take action. Sam fixed his eyes on the Umbrella guard functioning as his landing guide. The lowered wheels of the landing gear touched, bounced gently once and settled to the concrete. Upon receiving the cut signal Sam shut off the engines. Claire followed almost immediately. Silence settled in.

"Here we go," said Carlos, moving to the door.

Jennie undid the clamps, opened the door and lowered the retractable steps. The landing area has a number of Umbrella troops in their usual uniforms and one man in a lab coat waiting impatiently. Alice and Carlos climb down carefully, each cradling a baby blanket wrapped shape that emits low gurgling sounds. Just a few feet away Two black clad figures that Alice recognized as Chris and Trent supported a limp slender female whose head hung down, her features obscured by her long dark hair.

The lab coat man looked at her. "She's been drugged?"

"Yes sir," replied the supporting figure on the left, obviously Chris Redfield by his voice.

"Good," the man snapped in satisfaction. "You all come with me. I can tell you that Chairman Wesker himself will be joining us so let's not keep him waiting."

Alice and Carlos, Chris and Trent, followed him as he headed towards an elevator. Jennie and Christina tagged along. A subtle shake of the head from Alice saw Mike and William refrain from trying to accompany them. Instead the two former Rangers turned their attention to helping the ground crew that swarmed over the two VTOL's, refueling and inspecting them. That was excellent, Alice thought. The craft would be ready and the foursome remaining would be able to take care of the guards there and would be ready to take off at any time.

"When in doubt, know your way out." the old saying popped into her mind. Behind the one way opaque faceplate of her helmet she smiled grimly. Their way out was secured. The elevator jerked slightly and the group felt it begin their descent.

Even though they couldn't see each other's faces the glance Carlos and Alice exchanged on the down spoke volumes through the connection between the pair. The elevator was absolute state of the art but it rattled a little and jerked a bit several times. They had also notice the hanger doors had squealed and hesitated as they closed. When the elevator stopped it jerked again rather than halting smoothly. The lights in the corridor they stepped out into flickered and not all the bulbs were working.

Things were beginning to slip. No matter how anal Umbrella was about stockpiling sooner or later things were bound to start breaking down and supplies were going to start running short. The outside world had been locked away but even a complex as huge as this appeared to be could not be indefinitely self-sustaining. Alaska had started to grow, not only internally but reaching out to other groups of survivors to establish communication and trade. Umbrella simply wanted to pursue the same goals that had brought the world to its knees. Not only did they have to stop Wesker and his corporation for the sake of their children they had to stop it for all that remained of humanity. And they were about to start do just that as automatic doors open with an audible squeak and they moved into a crowded lab.

There were guards posted and they looked alert. Without a word Jennie and Christina moved to either side of the door and took up positions against the wall similar to the black clad figures already there. It would have taken a very keen observer to note that the safeties of their weapons were off and those weapons carried just slightly different than the others in the room. But those positions would give them an edge measured in seconds if, no when the firefight commenced Alice knew. And it was coming soon.

One white coated man was on a wall phone, a frown twisting his face. He abruptly slammed the handset back in its cradle. "The chairman will be delayed. No matter. Perhaps it will allow us to show him we are already making progress when he does arrive. Bring the subjects to the tables and let's get started opening them up."

Alice shot a glance around the room. Not a single face showed any distress, horror or even regret at what was obviously going to happen to two helpless infants and a teenaged girl. She shrugged. So be it. What happened would be on their heads. They had hoped to get Wesker with the opening blow but it was not to be.

"Here you go," she said. With that she pulled the friction fuse concealed in the baby blanket and tossed blanket and contents into the midst of the startled scientists. Carlos repeated the action to the other side. A very conscious Jill snapped upright, a Glock in hand. Each of the trio took a third of the room under automatic fire as Alice counted down so loudly all could hear her.

"Five, four, three..." The entire group bolted for the still open lab doors, leaping fallen and still falling bodies as needed. They dove into the hallway. Instinctively Chris, Trent and Jill went left while Carlos and Alice went right. Christina and Jennie had only needed a single step to the doorway where they provided covering fire until the others had reached safety at which time they hastily ducked.

"Two, one..."

An explosion ripped through the just vacated lab as the first satchel charge detonated, followed in a single heartbeat by the second. When the dust settled Chris looked into the lab. He winced as secondary explosions continued and several small fires began to spread.

"That's that."

The floor rocked beneath them.

"No I don t think that's that at all," observed Christina.

"Which way?" asked Jennie as she changed magazines.

"Elevator is that way," pointed Trent.

"Yes but we want to go THAT way," pointed Carlos.

"Why," asked Chris even as he and the others headed in the indicated direction.

"Because Umbrella employees get lost a lot," the ex-corporate soldier said, holding up a floor plan map he had ripped from the wall. "That way will take us to the commo center and to the central power systems."

"What about Wesker?" Jill asked.

"We have no idea where he was coming from," Alice pointed out. "It will just be sheer luck to find him now."

"The devil takes care of his own," muttered Chris. "Let's just make sure we can find our way out."

The group raced up stairs, knowing that elevators could easily turn into death traps. At the indicated floor they bowled over a couple of surprised guards and burst into a room filled with electronic gear. People in headset at computer stations looked in startled terror at them.

"Everyone out," bellowed Cristina even as she tossed a grenade onto the largest server console, an action Trent and Jennie were copying. The rush for the door nearly knocked the group down as the commo personnel fled. They hastily followed.

"That's got to hurt," noted Carlos as the grenades went off one by one, reducing the most expensive communication gear left in the world to scrap metal. "Come on."

Up stairs and down corridors the group raced. They threw open doors, marked and unmarked. Most Umbrella employees they encountered were simply waved out of the way. Machinery that looked important was riddled with gunfire as were several guards so lacking in sense that they didn't drop their weapons immediately. Equipment that looked very important; including several computer rooms, a lab or two and one armory were fitted with demolition charges.

Resistance was beginning to get tougher; the defenders better organized and not as surprised and confused as they had been. Alice had kept track of exactly where they were and was on the verge of telling them it was time to go when they arrived at a door marked "Chairman". Carlos threw it open. To their surprise a figure familiar to both the former Umbrella operatives was looking over his shoulder as he ran for a door at the far side of the room.

"That's him!" The group boiled into the room.

"Get him."

Alice and Carlos had hesitated for a split second in surprise at actually finding the rapidly retreating Wesker so Jennie, who was the closest one to the doorway, took the lead. Wesker ran through the far door and slammed it while yelling to someone unseen to "Stop them!

Jennie reached the door and wrenched it open. Facing them was a lone woman. Dark hair fell to her shoulders. Rather than a uniform or a lab coat she wore a tight black leather outfit that clung to her body and revealed an expanse of cleavage as well as a large silver and red brooch or pin that seemed to cling to her chest. Alice blinked. Was it moving slightly?

The former Border Patrol agent staggered as though she had run into a wall. She lowered her weapon, wrenched off her helmet and stared at the woman with a mixture of shock, disbelief and hope on her face.

"Emily?" she whispered in desperate longing.

Without hesitation the woman lifted her pistol and shot Jennie twice in the chest.

(To be continued)

(Note: "When in doubt, know your way out". I borrowed that from a list of rules from another movie. Who can tell me which one?)


	9. Running for It

Showdown, Chapter 9 by patricia51

(Running for It)

As Jennie fell to the floor Christina turned her MP5 on the woman her friend believed was her lost lover. Because of that identification she hesitated for an instant. That delay was long enough for Alice to spring forward, her T-Virus enhanced body moving with incredible speed. One punch dropped the mystery woman on the floor out cold.

"What in the world?" exclaimed Christina even as she knelt to check Jennie. The ex-SWAT officer gave a sigh of relief. "I think she'll be all right. Her armor vest took the impact but she was knocked down and hit her head on the floor. She's woozy though."

"I'll explain about her," Alice indicated the other fallen woman, "when we have the chance. In the meantime, Carlos, carry her. And make sure she stays out of it." Her husband shrugged and caught up the unconscious woman in a fireman's carry.

"I think," he grunted as he settled under his burden, "that we've overstayed our welcome."

"Uh-huh," admitted Alice.

Sirens had been sounding since shortly after they group had started its rampage. More started blaring, almost drowning out the speakers that had been jabbering with contradictory orders. But now a single decisive voice broke into the panicked ones.

"Wesker?"

"Uh-huh," repeated Alice. She shrugged. "It was fun while it lasted. We need to go now."

"Back that way?" asked Jill.

Alice pointed towards a door, "and head down the stairs. Eight levels down and turn right. The long corridor will take us right under the hanger. Up on flight of stairs and we're gone."

"Assuming that the hanger, the VTOL's, Claire and Sam and everyone else are still there," pointed out Trent.

"Worry wart." The teasing note in Alice's voice was underlined with the fact she was worried about that exact thing herself.

(In the Hanger)

"Cover me!" yelled Mike over the gunfire and explosions that seemed to fill the entire hanger area. Without waiting for any answer he took off across the concrete floor, bobbing and weaving as he went, demonstrating why he had been a starting wide receiver on his high school football team. He slid along the floor in a head first dive as he reached the objective of his rush. He reached that objective untouched as first one and then a second of the "borrowed" Umbrella machine guns opened fire.

Everything had been going just fine. Claire and Sam had supervised the Umbrella ground crews who checked over the machines. Although none of the original raiding part had been female they had taken a chance that the people in the hanger would not be aware of that and got away with it. Sam had assured them that he had met a number of female pilots during his time with the corporation and the odds were that several at least would be here at Headquarters.

Stan had done what the Guard intelligence officer did best; gather intelligence. He had quietly moved the cavernous room, moving from one little block of Umbrella personnel to another. He listened far more than he talked but occasionally he would subtlety turn the conversation to areas he wanted to know more about.

Briefed carefully by Stan the others had kept their ears open and generally their mouths shut, except for the directions and reports that Sam and Claire got from the ground crews. Even that was illuminating as more than once a crew chief or mechanic apologized not completing a check or filling the fuel completely "because of the shortages". Mike and William, both trained in the Army Rangers and familiar with how a crack outfit conducted itself noted that the Umbrella personnel's uniforms were beginning to look tattered and stained. Not just the ground crew but the security personnel as well. Some of the people were quietly surly. Things obviously were not perfect here.

Stan had circled the whole area once and was halfway through his second circuit when the first rumblings came from deep underground. Then the siren went off. Confusion reigned; confusion that the invaders helped spread by running around yelling things like "What the Hell is happening?" and "The zombies are breaking in!" But then someone answered a phone hanging on the wall. His eyes grew wide and he looked right at the group and started to point at them. He never quite finished the gesture as William raised his M4 and popped him with one burst. Then the fight was on.

Caught by surprise the Umbrella minions scattered. The group concentrated their fire on armed security personnel, ignoring as much as possible ground crew and others who were no threat to them. One immediately exception was made when the hanger doors groaned and started to close. Claire, who had hopped back into her aircraft to retrieve her sniper rifle zeroed in on the man at the controls. The heavy caliber rifle reduced both the Umbrella lackey and the console to junk in short order.

Things looked like they were pretty much under control. That abruptly changed when a door burst open and what seemed to be a never ending stream of heavily armed Umbrella guards poured through it. At the same time Mike's eyes had zeroed in Stan. The intelligence officer was slumped on the floor in a slowly growing pool of blood. The ex-Ranger yelled and pointed.

William had just jumped back into the VTOL and exchanged his M4 for one of the captured Umbrella light machine guns. He brought the new wave of attackers under fire, pinning them down enough to spare a burst over Stan's prone form and over Mile's head as well to discourage any interference with his friend's rescue attempt. Sam opened up from the doorway of his aircraft with another machine gun, having decided his ten gauge shotgun was not the best weapon for the job at hand. Between the two of them he and William drove the reinforcing guards back to the far side of the doorway they had been coming through.

Not all of the intruders had fallen though. Several took cover behind machinery or the bodies of their late coworkers. From protected positions they put out enough gunfire to make Claire, Sam and William all need to duck for cover at one time or another. Fortunately all the members of the trio were never pinned down at the same time. At least one weapon kept the guards from accurately firing on Mike as he weaved across the floor to where Stan was feebly trying to wrap his belt around his leg, which appeared to be the source of most of the bleeding.

Quickly Mike knelt and finished rigging the impromptu bandage on Stan's major wound, adding a field dressing he pulled from a pocket. He grabbed his friend under the arms and pulled him up, throwing an arm around the other man's back. As fast as they could they hobbled towards Sam's aircraft.

Sam fired a burst and tapped the earpiece of his radio set.

"Alice? What's happening?"

"We're on our way. We have one additional passenger and we'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Okay." The former Umbrella pilot switched frequencies. Since there was no need to be stealthy any longer he dispensed with click codes and such. "Claire honey?"

"Right here," she answered.

"Wind it up."

"Got it." Claire scrambled into the pilot's seat, started throwing switches and the powerful engines of the VTOL came to life. Nearby her other half's craft fired up as well. Mike helped Stan into the passenger compartment and retrieved one of the other machine guns. Along with William he kept the enemy under cover. Almost.

Just as Alice notified Sam they were coming out an Umbrella guard popped up with a grenade launcher. Before either of the former Rangers could target him he fired. The grenade sailed into the open door of Claire's aircraft and detonated.

Fortunately there was no explosion although a fire started and began to spread. However it was obvious the VTOL would never take to the air again. Claire tore open her safety harness, grabbed her sniper rifle and gracefully bailed out of the door. Her landing was a bit less than graceful however and the language she used could be heard over the gunfire. She picked herself up and headed for Sam's chopper just as a nearby door crashed open and Alice led the raiding party into the landing area.

"Oh SHIT," was the comment by the former Umbrella security chief. The entire group ran to the open hatch except for her. She sprinted to the pilot's window.

"Sam will this take all of us?"

"It better. Get in!"

Alice climbed in just as Sam fed power to the engines. Mike and William will still firing out the door as the machine rocked back and forth. Then it rose in the air, straining to get just enough altitude to clear the hanger doors, taking several hits from the gunmen below as it did. Then they whipped away, the door closing as the craft clawed for enough sky to switch over to level flight and run for it.

Jill and Chris, having been taught first aid as a part of the grueling training they had received to qualify for the elite STARS split up. He went to Stan while his wife knelt beside Jennie. Christina looked up.

"I think she's just dazed from the impact chock. Neither round penetrated her vest but the blunt force trauma at that range could be severe. Add to that the psychological shock of finding that her Emily is alive and then being shot by her, well, no wonder she went down and is having a hard time recovering. But I think she'll be fine."

Just in case the two women carefully removed the Umbrella armor and checked the former Border patrol agent for broken bones. At the same time Trent, also trained in first aid as were many RCMP officers who patrolled the sparsely settled areas of Canada, aided Chris in bandaging Stan properly and checking that none of his wounds were life-threatening.

Meanwhile Alice and Carlos were examining the still unconscious Emily, paying particular attention to the red glowing spider like thing on her chest.

"I swear it's moving," muttered Carlos.

"It is," replied Alice. "Look at those legs or whatever flexing. It's like they're... "She broke off as her eyes narrowed. With one swift move she grasped the device and yanked. It came off and the legs flexed harmlessly in the air.

"Look there," Carlos pointed. "The tips of the, I guess you might call them legs, seem to be tipped with hypodermic needles."

"Injecting a drug into whomever they are attached to. A drug that disables the conscious will of the person, leaving them open to being reprogramed to act however their captor wants. Their memories are repressed. They know only what they are told and do exactly as they are instructed."

"How do you know all this?" asked Cristina, who had made her way across the crowded aircraft along with a still dazed but recovering Jennie who was torn between listening to Alice and gazing longingly at her lover's unaware form.

"When I worked for Umbrella I was head of security for a large research facility called The Hive," Alice explained. "A prototype of this device was developed there along with the experimental drug that was to be used in it. This is the same thing, just more refined and better crafted. The good news is that with it removed Emily should almost immediately stop responding to whatever the commands are that Umbrella planted in her mind. When her body rids itself of the drug, which it will do, she will suffer from amnesia but eventually she should regain most of her memories. As with anyone with amnesia it will help to have familiar surroundings," she smiled at Jennie, "or familiar faces, around. So stay with her."

"I won't argue with that," Jennie said with a smile. She settled in beside the other woman and took her hand. Christina sat with her friend.

The flight went on for several hours. Then the VTOL lurched sharply to one side. One of the motors coughed and sputtered before regaining its steady roar.

"Oh Shit," Alice found herself saying aloud again. At the same time a fervent rendering of exactly those same words came from Sam and then was echoed by Claire.

"What is it?" asked Alice as she made her way up between the two pilots.

"When we were taking off we took some hits," replied Sam as he scanned the gauges while Claire threw switches. "At the time it seemed to be nothing. But apparently wed had a gas tank holed and the self-sealing has given way. Claire is trying to transfer the remaining fuel to engine one but we've already lost a lot. The leak that sprung is BIG."

"And?"

"And we're in the middle of the ocean and we don't have enough fuel to get to Alaska or to return to Japan."

"Oh SHIT."

(To be continued)


	10. Lost at Sea

Showdown, Chapter 10

(Lost at Sea)

"Any bright ideas?" Sam said calmly as the VTOL lurched again.

"Nothing that comes to mind immediately," admitted Alice.

Carlos shrugged. "I wonder if there's a life raft on board."

"With room for thirteen?" asked Christina from her place beside Jennie and Emily, who was starting to show signs of waking up. The former SWAT officer was keeping a close eye on the one-time FBI agent in case she woke up still under Umbrella control or at least wildly and dangerously confused as to her whereabouts.

"Unlikely."

"Well," said Claire determinedly, "we'll just have to find a place to land."

"Where?" Sam demanded. "I've looked at the chart. There's no place I think we can reach."

"We'll just have to find a place," she replied. "Or rather get some help with finding it." With that she threw a switch and spoke into the microphone of her headset.

"Mikey? Are you there? Mikey, come in."

She listened and repeated her call. A smile came across her face and she adjusted the radio set on the control panel. "Say again Mikey."

"I said," came the familiar voice to everyone in the aircraft with their helmets or headsets still on, "that you don't need to shout. Of course I'm here. The only time I've left here has been to run check on the kids who are all fine by the way. So what's up?"

Claire gave a brief, concise summary of the situation they found themselves in. "Can you hack a handy Umbrella satellite and find us some place to set this down before we have to try swimming for Alaska?"

"Of course I can hack a satellite," Mikey replied almost sounding insulted at that part of Claire's question. "Hold on while I do it." In a remarkably short time he was back. "Sam is the transponder off?"

"Of course," the ex-Umbrella pilot replied. "No point in making it easy for Umbrella to track us."

"Understood. Can you flash it though? I need a lock on your position."

Sam touched a control. "Wait for it on my mark Miley. Three, two, one. NOW." He jabbed the button his finger was resting on and then stabbed it again to shut it off.

"Got you. Good golly you ARE in the middle of nowhere." The young computer genius started to mumble as he concentrated on sweeping the ocean around the crippled VTOL while at the same time minimizing the number of commands he gave the satellite. He knew he needed to find his friends a place but at the same time he didn't want to draw Umbrella's attention by too obvious a demonstration of the control he had on their equipment.

"Not there... not there... too far... too small... capsized..." the litany went on until his voice rose in triumph. There! A good sized freighter with a large open deck. Plenty of room. No clue what is aboard; I can't read the name." Mikey went on to give a course and distance.

Claire looked at Sam who nodded in satisfaction. "Thanks Mikey. I there's anything else we'll yell."

In Alaska the computer wizard looked troubled as the connection broke. "I can't help but think," He said aloud to no one else, "that I better not wait for that yell before I start getting busy." And with that he proceeded to get very busy indeed.

"Everyone who can better strap in," Sam called over the aircraft's speaker system two hours later. "This is going to get rough. There's a lot of wind shear in the area."

The safety belts the rather uncomfortable seat lining both sides of the rear of the aircraft were hastily fastened. On the right hand side Jennie and Christina were helping Emily, who as predicted had regained consciousness with no memory of who she was or any of her previous life, strap herself in. The dark-haired woman was beginning to come out of the mental fog left behind by the drugs that had been pumped into her system and showing growing signs of the incredibly intelligent and discerning woman that Jennie had fallen in love with. But the glances Emily shot around the cabin rested on Jennie no more than they did on anyone else. The former Border Patrol officer reminded herself that until just a few hours ago she believed she had lost Emily forever, at least in this lifetime. Waiting for the other woman's memories to hopefully return was a small price to pay for the chance to have her back.

"Claire honey, fire up the radar." Sam, as well as Claire, Carolos and Alice all knew that just like flipping on the transponder or using the radio, any electronic emission like the radar could paint a path to them. But there was no choice. A band of heavy rain had swept over the area and dropped visibility to near zero. They knew they were close to their target but Sam had to see it to land on the ship.

"There it is," Claire reported. "Bearing ninety four degrees magnetic, range six miles."

Sam turned on the new course. Shortly the grey bulk of the looked for ship loomed through the rain. She looked terrible, having obviously been adrift for years but her deck was still relatively uncluttered and Sam eyes a place that looked sturdy.

"Hold on," he instructed as he shifted to vertical flight. "Claire, landing lights."

Once again, as he had demonstrated in LA, Sam Treadwell proved that he was the most gifted pilot the others had ever seen. Clenching his teeth, his muscles bunched as he fought to control the one-engine aircraft as it swayed alarmingly back and forth in the wind. But there was only the slightest bump when they touched down and e cut the power.

The VTOL nearly rocked one more time as everyone, including the pilot, released the deep breaths they had been holding. Laughter rang through the craft.

"What now?"

"I need to find the holes in the fuel tank. We need something to patch them and then some gas. Fortunately this isn't a jet so high octane aviation isn't an absolute must but the higher quality the better. However in a pinch we can use just about any gasoline."

Jill undid the lugs holding the side door locked. She opened it and turned around as Alice started designating search groups. As she a sudden movement caught her eye. Christina had drawn her Kimber forty five with amazing speed and was pointing it in her direction. Before she could react the sex-SWAT officer fired twice past the RCPD STARS officer. Jill spun in time to see the zombie collapse to the deck, its eyes crossed as though trying to look at the pair of bullet holes between them.

"Well, the dark-haired woman said as she readied her own weapon, "I guess some of the crew is still here." She nodded her thanks at the other female ex-cop.

"We'd better assume there are more," noted Alice. ""Claire and Sam, you stay with the aircraft and look after Stan. Jennie and Christina keep Emily with you and remain here too. Carlos, Trent and I will search the bridge area and the quarters. Jill and Chris, Mike and William, you all look for the engine room and the supply storage below decks. Everyone stay together. Cover each other. We've come together this far, let's not get careless over what doesn't seem likely to be more than a handful of zombies."

An occasional shot echoed through the battered hull as one party or the other encountered a former member of the crew. None were a problem for the hardened survivors of a world gone mad. Soon the two groups met and conducted a sweep from stem to stern of the entire ship, insuring there were no undead left.

That was the good news. The bad news was given by Alice to Sam.

"There's a machine shop that we might be able to fabricate patches for the fuel tank. However, there is not a drop of high-octane gas, low-octane gas, kerosene or any other light distillate on board. Even the diesel fuel for the ship's engines is all used up. Apparently the engines were operating when the infection took hold."

"So we're stuck."

"Right now anyway. Claire, can you get Mikey and advise him of the situation?"

"On it."

While all of this had been going on Jennie and Christina had sat with Emily, who had been rapidly regaining her wits if not her memory. Although she kept her emotions sternly in check Jennie was delighted to see how Emily was taking in the situation and making sense of it. She listened intently as the other two women told her what the world was like now and how it had got to that present state. She admitted that she did remember the world as it once had been, just not her place in it and the events of the past five years were all new to her.

Although Jennie had carefully avoided any mention of them even knowing each other besides providing Emily with her name the former FBI agent's reasoning ability and her sharp observation skills led her to make several judgments. When Jennie left for a couple of minutes to put a new bandage on Stan's wound Emily turned to Christina.

"She and I knew each other before all this." Christina noted it was phrased as a statement, not as a question. "In fact we were very close. I wonder just how close." She smiled at Christina's obvious discomfort. "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to give away anything. But I've been watching Jennie and her obvious concern for me is underscored with some very real and deep feelings."

"That could be," replied the former SWAT officer. "But I think, and she thinks, that it would be best if your memory comes back on its own rather than being colored by others no matter how close they might have been back in the day."

"Fair enough."

The entire group reassembled to hear Claire's news.

"Mikey has been in touch with several different people in both Alaska and elsewhere. Several Coast Guard cutters and their crews were of course already in Alaska when the troubles started and more joined them. However lack of repair parts and downtime along with their efforts to aid refugees to Alaska who often came in leaking and even sinking boats along with the need to protect the revitalized fishing industry has stretched them to the breaking point. They will try to shake free a cutter to bring us fuel but admit they don't know when that will be. So Mikey came up with another idea."

"Which was?"

"Remember the pirate cave complex taken over by Umbrella on the Northern California coast?"

"Sure," the heads of the rest of the original sextet nodded. Sam more than the others as his eyes met his wife's with a smile, which she returned as that was where they had found the two girls who were now their daughters.

"Well Morganna Combs and Dwayne Hicks," Claire referred to the former Umbrella spy and security officer who had aided them on their trip, "are still there." Claire grinned. "Except it's Morganna Hicks now and their adopted son Don. They have a thriving trade and repair base there for the floating communities and lone survivors. In fact just recently the first convoy from there reached Alaska with a lot of salvaged items from California. Anyway they have several larger boats now for that trade and are loading one with aviation gas and it's leaving immediately for us."

"So we just have to sit and wait for them?" asked Christina.

"Not much choice. Although obviously we need to have the aircraft repaired by the time they get here," replied Carlos.

"Oh I agree," Christina said. "I just hate the idea of having to sit out here on the deep blue sea while Umbrella recovers from our strike. Who knows what mischief they'll come up with?" Everyone else agreed.

That worry was justified. For back under Tokyo Albert Wesker was raging.

"I want every aircraft that can fly launched. Repair the damaged ones. Load them to capacity with troops. I want to deal with this problem once and for all. Have them ALL go after that ship except for a portion that will strike at that miserable hamlet they call home."

Mikey and Sam and Claire had all been right to be concerned. Although Umbrella had not intercepted the communications between them the turning on of the Transponder had not only revealed the position of the stolen VTOL but also had transmitted the status of the aircraft to Umbrella Headquarters including its critical fuel situation. Ironically Umbrella techs had used the same satellite that Mikey had hacked to track the raiders to their temporary refuge.

"But sir," protested the senior Security officer "is it wise to strip the facility of all of our troops and aircraft?"

A single shot rang out. The furious Chairman laid a still smoking heavy pistol on the table.

"Are there any more questions?"

The others present looked at the sprawled body and shook their heads.

"Good. Get moving. I want the strike to launch s soon as possible."

(To be continued)


	11. Here They Come

Showdown, Chapter 11

(Here They Come)

A day passed and then another. The weather cleared. Sam and Claire, with help from everyone, patched the fuel tank. Everyone caught up on their sleep. Weapons were cleaned and ammo redistributed. Stan was better, the bullets that hit him having missed anything vital. There were emergency survival rations aboard the VTOL and a few unspoiled can goods left in the ship's galley. A butane stove was conjured up from a lifeboat so the generally tasteless food was at least hot. Then, in the middle of the ocean in a world gone mad, everyone started to get bored.

Searching the ship again passed some of the time. They went through all the cargo holds, the cabins and the workspaces.

"Sometimes there's a lot of good stuff in abandoned or zombie haunted ships," Stan pointed out the evening of the second day when they assembled to eat together. "Our friends in the floating communities have found that out. As much as possible when a ship is located anywhere near them by satellite, yes usually pirated Umbrella ones but still a few US Government ones that Alaskan Air Defense Command can access, we let them know. The Coast Guard people try to search and salvage any that are near us at home. And other communities do that as well. That Georgia barrier islands refuge that Jill and Angie tried to make it to and Jennie considered has got a couple which have helped them to reestablish a toehold on the mainland."

Emily had sat up when Jennie's name was mentioned. Her memory had shown some signs of returning with bits and pieces of unconnected scenes coming to her. There had been a few of her as a child and more with a mixed group of adults who seemed very close to her. By far the majority of those glimpses into her past had involved the blonde woman who was sitting beside her.

When the group returned to checking every corner of the ship Emily had deftly separated herself and the other woman from the others, having had a brief heartfelt conversation with Christina beforehand. After checking the storage containers in a compartment she sat down on one and looked at Jennie.

"It's time for us to talk. I need help. I need to know if the things I'm starting about me to recall are real or not.

Jennie took a deep breath. "Okay. Go ahead."

"Be honest."

"I promise."

"What is my last name?"

"Prentiss."

"And yours?"

"Gartman."

"I noticed that when I picked up a pistol that I seem to be very familiar with a firearm. Why is that?"

"You were a Supervisory Special Agent of the FBI."

The discussion went on. Jennie told her about the BAU and her transfer down to Texas and the joint task force they were on together. Emily was a skilled interrogator and although Jennie was well aware of that she was happy to get to reveal some of the details about their shared time together. They sat on the container together, legs swinging and comfortable until Emily released the bolt out of the blue.

"We were lovers weren't we?"

Jennie nearly fell off the crate. Her mouth hung open as she groped for words.

"You promised to be honest," Emily said sternly although there was a twinkle in her expressive eyes.

"Yes, we were."

"I thought so." It was Emily's turn to hesitate. "I feel something around you, something special. But I need to take things slow; I need for those feeling to grow back to where I feel certain that they were before. Can you deal with that?"

"Emily Prentiss I thought I had lost you forever." Jennie went on to explain the circumstances of her disappearance, Jennie's belief she was dead and how Umbrella must have somehow kidnapped her. "I'm just so happy to have you back. Memory or not you are the same woman. We fell in love once before. I think we can do it again."

The conversation, at least on that subject ended there. But sharp-eyed Christina smiled later on when she noticed the pair was holding hands as they walked the deck.

"Hey everyone," Jill poked her head out of the VTOL where it had been her turn to keep radio watch. "I just heard from Morganna and Dwayne. There in range and should be here in a few hours."

The group cheered, except for Alice who was standing near the bow shading her eyes.

"What is it hon?" asked Carlos, always alerted when his wife stiffened as she did now.

"We're not going to have a few hours. Look!"

The group assembled rapidly as the tiny specks Alice's enhanced vision had spotted grew closer.

"Shit."

"Here we go again."

In Alaska alarm bells were ringing at the Air Defense Command. A uniformed Air National Guard officer was barking orders while trying to simultaneously listen to a radio broadcast and contact someone on a different frequency.

"Bill Henderson?" When the mayor of the small town answered in the affirmative he went on. "Tony Jablonsky at Air Defense. We're picking up an inbound flight of aircraft from Japan. In addition there's a message being broadcasted from the same origin. Let me patch it in to you."

"Go ahead." The officer nodded to a tech and everyone listened.

"Alice Abernathy," a rage filled voice erupted from the speaker, "you dared to attack me, to attack Umbrella. Now you will pay for it. It has taken days to recover from your sneak attack but now you will feel my vengeance. And not just you but your pathetic little homes will feel my wrath as well." The message went on to repeat again and again until it was shut off.

"Sounds like he's pissed," commented Bill in a steady voice.

"Yeah that was my thought as well," replied Tony. "Bill I have a call in to State Headquarters and the Adjutant General. At the speed they're going I figure we have no more than thirty minutes at most before those aircraft reach you."

"Mikey just came running in the door Tony to bring me the same information. I'm sounding the warning siren here. I don't KNOW the voice but I m sure it's Chairman Wesker of Umbrella. I'm surprised they didn't try to sneak in like they did last time."

"Judging from the tone of voice in that broadcast I don't think stealth was on his mind. Besides we've tightened our surveillance considerably in the last couple of days. Speaking of that thanks Mikey."

"You're welcome Colonel," replied the young computer wiz who s near frantic activities over the last few days had included helping the Guard tighten its computer security and its search abilities.

"Tony we have to go. A lot to do and not much time to do it in."

"Okay Bill. I'm waiting for authorization for the response I have in mind. Take care and keep your head down."

The last bit echoed in an empty room. Mikey was running hard for Christina's house and Bill was headed for the heavy weapons armory, keys in hand and the majority of the adult residents of the town in hot pursuit. Most of them carried weapons snatched up the moment the alarm sounded.

When the siren had gone off the five teenaged girls in Christina's house had been sitting in a circle practicing. The five some who had been casual friends before were now BFF's one and all. Eliza, Marian and Sally had been amazed to learn about Angie's telepathic abilities and then astounded to discover that she and K-Mart had learned to communicate mentally. One and all they had determined to find a way for all of them to share Angie's talent one on one.

The three of them had almost immediately learned how to receive Angie's thoughts. At first it had been in the order of a broadcast but after practice the girls were able to receive thoughts one on one with Angie. Then came the harder part, mental transmissions between the other four without Angie facilitating.

Not surprisingly it was K-Mart who was first able to mind talk to another of the other three and that was with Marian, who was a little older and along with Sally had experienced Angie's powers first hand on the California coast. Sally followed and then one surprise morning Eliza did as well. They were still working on the latter three communicating with each other but it improved each time.

That circle though had been trying to find a way for them to boost Angie's telekinetic powers. The idea had again been K-Mart's.

"My mom can do incredible things with her mind," the teen had reasoned. "She can put up a shield that deflected flame and even bullets. She can affect other inanimate objects, like computer chips and other things, cause explosions. She says it's because of the way her body bonded with the T-Virus. Well, if she can then Angie might be able to do the same things and we can help her."

When Mikey gasped the news to the teens all thoughts of telekinetic powers and such were abandoned. The groups grabbed their own weapons; pistols and shotguns for the most part and hurried to collect the three younger children. When they left the house they saw Mister Henderson waving them in the direction of the surrounding woods, where they could also see the other community members taking cover and preparing for action. Knowing where a recently constructed bunker for children was they ran to it. The smaller ones were tucked inside and the girls spread out along the top and readied their weapons to defend themselves and the others. In what seemed like no time at all the drone of incoming aircraft engines filled the air.

"Shit," muttered K-Mart, secure in the knowledge that for once her mom and dad couldn't hear her.

"Shit," rang out four responses.

Perhaps Alice really DID hear her daughter. Maybe she just felt it. Regardless she felt a chill as she ran towards the captured Umbrella aircraft, arriving in time to hear the broadcast. Unlike those in Alaska she was perfectly familiar with Albert Wesker's voice. Her blood ran cold. She grabbed the radio tuned to their own frequency and called frantically for Mikey. Meanwhile Claire was on yet a third set telling Morganna and Dwayne what was happening and advising them to stay away.

"Mikey! Please answer!" Alice was nearly yelling by the time the computer tech answered.

"We're aware Alice and taking measures. The kids are safe for now. If everything goes right Umbrella is going to be the one getting surprised. The main effort is coming for you. Take cover and get your heads down and hold them off as long as you can."

Alice had to be satisfied with that. She gasped the news to the other anxious parents and everyone took cover, readying their weapons.

"Wish we had some Stingers," commented Carlos.

"Wishes and horses and all that," retuned Chris.

Christina, Jennie and Emily had got Stan to a covered location and prepared themselves. As the Umbrella strike force closed in on them Emily leaned over and kissed Jennie.

"I don't remember much but I remember that I love you."

With surgical precision Jennie fed the belt into the light machine gun she had positioned herself behind. "You better believe I want you to repeat that when this is all over."

And now the group waited. But they didn't have to wait for long.

(To be continued)


	12. Bugler, Sound the Charge

Showdown, Chapter 12 by patricia51

(Bugler, Sound the Charge)

"Now," Albert Wesker snarled as he stood in the control room of Umbrella Headquarters surrounded by monitors transmitting videos from the strike force over the Atlantic as well as the one approaching a small town in Alaska. "Now my revenge will be complete."

He keyed the transmitter as new ideas struck him. "Red leader," he directed the commander of the massive strike closing in on the abandoned freighter, "I want Alice Abernathy alive. The rest you may kill. Blue leader," the Chairman switched his attention to the leader of the smaller force heading for the small Alaska town that was its objective, "I want the Abernathy-Olivera brats and whatever name that Angela Ashford is going by now-a-days."

Both airborne commanders stifled curses. Even before take-off Wesker had been interfering with them, changing their objectives back and forth and getting in the way. Nor was this the first brainstorm the Chairman had come up with during their flight. But to complain would only result in a change of command order that would be fatal to whichever one of them voiced any opposition. Gritting their teeth each of them began to give the orders altering their attack plans. Again. Neither of them had been particularly happy with their assignment to begin with. They were both professional soldiers and raiding civilians was not what they liked. They longed to contact each other, having secretly discussed a fall back plan should this mission turn to the crap it rapidly appeared it was going to do. But they didn't dare. Yet.

Because of that change neither attack group was able to stand off and bombard the area with rockets as the original plans envisioned. Instead both groups were forced to come in to point blank range in order to unload troops to carry out the search for the designated targets. No one was familiar with how Alice looked and none of the Alaskan attackers had the slightest clue how to recognize the children they were supposed to be seizing. But the Chairman had spoken.

The confusion immediately showed itself in the force attacking the derelict. Two of the Umbrella VTOLs jockeying for position collided and fell to the ocean in a tangle of machinery and helpless people. This time the commander gave voice to his curses, directing four specific craft to assault from the starboard beam and unload their troops all at one time.

Up to that moment Alice and her family and friends had been waiting undercover with weapons loaded and locked. As the four aircraft rushed in to hover just above the deck Alice gave the order and the group came up firing.

Two of the confiscated Umbrella light machine guns had been lost with the disabling and resultant explosion of Claire's VTOL. The two remaining were set up fore and aft and raked the Umbrella troops leaping from their aircraft. Black clad attackers fell in heaps. The few not cut down immediately were taken under controlled, aimed fire by the rest of the defenders.

While the VTOL's were armored enough to withstand the small arms fire they were taking that armor didn't help when Carlos popped up. Using the grenade launcher mounted under the barrel of his Galil he fired a forty millimeter grenade through an open hatch. The resultant explosion was deeply satisfying to the defenders. The craft shuddered, hit the one next to it and toppled over into the sea, followed by the one it had crippled.

That did it, the Red Team Leader swore again. He directed two craft to take station at the stern and two more at the bow. From those positions they directed a storm of fire, driving Jennie and Emily to cover with their machine gun and Mike and William with the other. Freed temporarily at least from that fire troops began to rappel down from other of the attackers' aircraft. Before long the defenders were split in half.

Carlos squirmed over to Alice. Holding his Galil up over his head he blindly sprayed the entire magazine towards the Umbrella troops.

"This is not good," he commented as he ejected the empty magazine and slapped a full one in its place. "We can't let them drive us below decks. If they do then we're toast."

"I hope things are going better than this at home."

They weren't.

"Hold on K-Mart," Angie directed her friend through clenched teeth.

"I am, I am," returned the other girl, her hand holding Angie's so tightly that the knuckles were turning white. She held her Walther in her free hand, much like Angie clutched her Smith and Wesson. But the weapon the girls were using was their joined minds.

The leader of the Umbrella attack on their town had suffered at first from the same restrictions that Wesker had put on the other group. In addition the residents of the village more closely matched the number of raiders and had room to maneuver that those on the ship didn't have.

At first the results were the same as well. The first attempt to land ground troops came under heavy fire and one VTOL was knocked out when a heavy machine gun permanently mounted in the town hall ignited the craft's fuel system with tracers. But the Blue Leader discarded her last instructions quickly. The team manning the fifty caliber barely cleared the town hall before a rocket barrage blasted it. Machine gun and more rocket fire tore into the wood line near the girls, making them fall flat on top of the bunker and unable to do anything else besides pray. Umbrella goons landed under that cover fire. Fortunately they attacked through the town away from the bunker where the five teen girls, reinforced by other friends both male and female, protected the younger children. Falling trees had helped to obscure their position and the Umbrella commander was intent on reaching the Abernathy-Olivera home.

When that house was found to be empty the troops began as methodical a search as they could under the harassing fire of the residents. Bill Henderson strove to draw the invaders away from their target by giving ground that also kept casualties among the defenders to a minimum. He hoped whatever response the Guard was presenting to the Governor came soon and was effective.

The attackers had overrun and searched the house that was their main objective as well as those of Chris and Jill and Claire and Sam. Finding nothing they had reported to the mission commander who commanded her electronic warfare officer to use the ground penetrating radar the craft was equipped for to search through the forest. Almost immediately they located the bunker and the leader redirected her troops.

The teens had been keeping their heads down but when Umbrella shifted its attack they realized it immediately.

"Oh God here they come," muttered K-Mart. She looked around. Besides the five girls who carried shotguns and handguns there were a half-dozen boys and girls armed with rifles. None of it was going to hold back the Umbrella soldiers for long. Even as Bill Henderson launched a desperate counterattack to try to drive them away from the bunker the Umbrella troops opened a heavy fire and rushed towards the teens.

And stopped as the bullets rebounded in all directions except towards the bunker. K-Mart immediately grasped what was happening and turned to her friend. Angie's eyes were closed, letting her see with her mind. Her body shook with the effort of putting a mental shield in front of them. Sweat poured from her face. K-Mart grabbed her hand and joined with her best friend. Without the bonding with the T-Virus Angie had undergone she couldn't do the things her friend could but she could lend her strength to what Angie was doing. She didn't understand how but she knew she could.

Both teens were straining now. The Umbrella troops had stopped shooting, towards them anyway, and were trying to force their way through the girls' barrier. Angie felt it slipping even with K-Mart's assistance. Then someone else took her hand and strength poured back into her. Sally, Marian and Eliza had joined them. But even so Angie knew it was just a matter of time. But she didn't give up. She hadn't when Umbrella had her before and she wouldn't now.

For a fleeting moment Angie spared a yearning thought for her mom and dad. She hoped they were alright.

Jill and Chris had joined Carlos and Alice.

"Any suggestions?" the one time Umbrella security chief asked dryly.

Carlos shrugged. "When outnumbered and surrounded there really is only one option."

"Attack," answered Chris.

Pegging only an occasional shot from their sidearms the group loaded full magazines into their primary weapons. Alice advised Claire what the plan, if their desperate actions could be called such, was and to be ready.

"On three?" asked Alice of the group.

"One," breathed Jill.

"Two," added Carlos.

"Th... wait...what's THAT?" Alice interrupted herself as something high in the air caught her eye.

"What's what?" Faces turned up and followed Alice's gaze. She pointed.

Half a dozen this contrails traced across the sky. Then one by one they plunged down towards the ship.

"Duck!" called Trent.

"No wait, they're not headed towards us, they're headed..." the rest of Alice's statement was cut off as suddenly five of the Umbrella VTOL's exploded in giant balls of flame. A sixth blast rained a fountain of seawater over the bow of the ship.

"What the hell was THAT?" demanded Jill of everyone and no one in particular.

"Air to air missiles it looked like," answered Trent. "But where they came from I have no clue."

"There I guess," said Chris, shading his eyes and pointing at three specks closing from the south.

The gunfire had died away as everyone, defenders and attackers alike, gaped at the rapidly approaching aircraft. The remaining Umbrella VTOL's broke frantically in all directions as more smoke trails erupted from under the arrivals wings. It didn't help. More Umbrella aircraft exploded as the attackers roared past, close enough now to be identified as F/A-18 Hornets.

"Where did those come from?" Jennie asked to the groups around her.

"The only ones I know of that are still around belong to that nuclear carrier group that rode out the infection by staying out to sea. I know they aren't a fan of Umbrella, having already clashed with and defeated the Australian facility. But I thought they were far to the south of us."

"Guess not," his wife Claire replied wryly.

Weapons were clattering to the deck and hands were being raised as far in the air as they could go as the Umbrella troopers on board surrendered. The last two surviving VTOL's, which included the mission leader's, had lowered their landing gear in the old signal of ariel surrender. Under the watchful eye of the Hornets they settled on the deck and their crews came out with their hands up. As he shut down his craft with a sigh of relief he sent the agreed upon code message to the Blue Mission Commander

Sam and Claire scrambled across the deck ignoring the surrendering Umbrella troopers to join Alice and Carlos, Chris and Jill at their commandeered VTOL. The remaining six finished the disarmament of the now captive attackers. Sam manned one radio, searching the military frequencies while Claire frantically tried to contact Mikey.

The ex-Umbrella pilot was successful first. After a brief conversation he turned to the others as the three Hornets reversed course and headed home, rocking their wings as they went.

"They ARE from the carrier," he announced. "They have been racing north for the last few days to get in range to deliver this airstrike. It seems," he went on with a grin, "that there has been a lot going on lately that we didn't know about. An alliance has been formed to handle Umbrella, or at least its offensive capacity, once and for all."

About that time Claire got through to Mikey and the group sagged in relief.

"It's all over here," the tech wizard advised them. "Your daughters are using their mental powers to keep burning pieces of Umbrella aircraft from hitting anything important."

"Powers?" asked Chris. At the same time his wife asked "Daughters?"

"They'll explain when you all get home. In the meantime the Guard struck in force here. Two F-16 Fighting Falcons and two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters knocked half of the bad guys out of the sky and just a few minutes ago the rest surrendered with the troops on the ground being directed to by the commander here. We're questioning her now."

The group looked at each other. Carlos spoke first. "I guess that does it. For now at least we've defeated Wesker."

"But he'll be back," predicted Alice.

(To be concluded)

(Note: Chapter title was taken from a favorite line in what I consider the greatest Western movie ever, John Wayne in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon")

(I was hoping for this to be the story finale but the part after this kept growing and I knew I wouldn't have it done in time for the Saturday morning posting for the person I promised I would so she could see that Alice and Carlos and everyone DID get out of it okay. I won't (Paula) mention her name (Paula) because of course (Paula) I don't want to embarrass (Paula) her.)


	13. Brave New World

Showdown, Chapter 13 by patricia51

(Brave New World)

Back in the secret fortress constructed under Tokyo Albert Wesker sat stunned as the reports continued to flow in. Not only had both his assault forces been defeated and surrendered but word had just came in that the crew of the cargo ship Arcadia that he had directed to head for the ocean battle had mutinied, taken over the ship and were refusing to follow orders. Sunk in his thoughts at first he didn't notice the quiet slipping away of personnel from the command center. When he did his anger rose to the surface.

"Get back to your posts," he snarled, drawing his pistol. "This isn't over."

The remaining techs responded by bolting for the exits. Enraged he fired again and again, not even caring that the bullets smashed consoles which flickered, sparked and went dark. His pistol empty he slumped into his chair and brooded.

What could have gone wrong? He was Albert Wesker, chairman of Umbrella, the largest and most powerful corporation in the world. How could he have come to this? He never stopped to considered that although he was an extremely able and astute businessman he had no military knowledge at all and had brought Umbrella to the brink by assuming he was a genius at that as well as business.

Screams woke him from his thoughts. He staggered out into the larger control center which was still slightly manned by terrified personnel.

"Mister Chairman!" one of the female techs screamed. "The outer doors have short circuited. The zombies are coming in!"

"Have security hold them back until the doors can be repaired," he directed.

"But sir!" the panicked woman responded. "All the guards were sent out on the raid. What shall we do?"

Ignoring her and the rest Wesker spun on his heel and headed for the hanger where his personal VTOL was kept. He was still standing there, staring at the empty spot where the craft had been before he ordered ALL craft to take part in the double attack when the zombies found him.

Far out to sea Dwayne and Morganna had reached the derelict with their load of aviation fuel and a reunion with their friends. It turned out that Dwayne had been in the Marines with both Mark Drake and Jenette Vasquez.

"I'm not surprised Umbrella recruited them," The former Umbrella officer remarked. "They're both tough, smart and were deeply involved in the smart gun program." He grinned. "They're also deeply in love with each other but have never admitted it, claiming they're just buds. I know better."

A discussion among the three of them, with Jenette participating by radio of course, solved some of the problem of what to do with the surviving Umbrella troopers. The discussion continued to widen, Mikey going crazed linking the various groups together in one conference. Finally he had Alice, Dwayne, Bill Henderson, Jenette, representatives of the floating communities and the Alaskan government, the newly elected Captain of the Arcadia and the commander of the Carrier Battle Group all together.

Many details would have to be worked out later but the basic principles were agreed upon easily. It was time for the scattered groups of survivors to work together, not fragment the human race even more. Mutual defense and trade relations were settled. The Arcadia would head for Alaska and began carrying cargos up and down the coast and out to the South Pacific where the carrier groups was reclaiming island chains one by one, including their new home port of Guam. There was even talk of a voyage to the Atlantic, The Georgia survivors' mainland foothold included the old King's Bay Naval Base and supplies from there were sorely needed by the carrier and the Alaskan Coast Guard. Missiles and torpedoes are not reusable after all.

Scattered transmissions told of the collapse of Umbrella Headquarters including an eyewitness account by a shaken survivor of the devouring of Chairman Wesker. A large group had sealed off a section of the complex and was temporarily safe. Reinforced by some of the carrier's Marines the Umbrella troops on the derelict agreed to mount a rescue mission from the Arcadia, a mission much more to the liking of Mark Drake. They would be joined by Jenette and her remaining troops, both commanders giving their word of honor as to their intentions.

"That you can take to the bank," Dwayne assured the gathering. He also pointed out the two of them had eagerly accepted his offer to join him and Morganna along with some of their troops in the effort to push back the undead in their area. Also apparently none of the executives had made their way to safety. The remaining employees were pretty much all lab and science techs, medical personnel (not the ones given to dissecting teenagers they were all informed), mechanics and other workers. Plus there was a lot of stuff stored in levels still unoccupied that was in great demand in the outside world.

"Enough to give the Arcadia quite a load for their first trading voyage," noted Stan when informed of the stuff Umbrella had kept to itself.

The rescued Umbrella personnel would be screened and offered the opportunity to apply to join any of the survivor groups or they could be given the chance to found a colony of their own if enough wanted.

"After all," Carlos said with a twinkle in his eye, "some former Umbrella employees have turned out to be pretty solid citizens."

"This is all great," agreed Alice with a sigh. "But right now I'm ready to go home."

A few hours later they were on their way. It seemed a long time but soon they were landing outside of their homes. Ah they disembarked they were met by charging teenagers carrying younger siblings. There was a great deal of hugging and leaping into eager parental arms. With shinning eyes Jennie showed Emily to the house that was now their home. From the way the pair held each other it was obvious there would be a lot more "I love you's" in their life together. Mike and William announced plans to move their families here.

"I had no idea they even HAD families," whispered Jill to her husband.

At first it appeared that Trent would be the lone one leaving. However Christina invited the former Mountie to spend a few days at her house "just to relax a bit first" before going home. The lone bachelor on the team lost no time in accepting and seemed to be hitting it off with Eliza and little Jim.

As for the rest they settle back into their homes to rest and recover for a few days. All were astounded at Angie's continual strenthening of her mental abilities and the connection she had forged with the other girls. Researchers from the still fuctioning University of Alaska were making arrangements to come visit and study it all. Remembering the last time she had nearly been "studied" Angie was leary at first but was reassured when she met the woman who would be in charge of the study and realized she was not in the least like those monsters in lab coats she remembered.

The Abernathy-Olivera home needed a few repairs after the last two break-ins but everyone pitched in and within a few weeks Alice, Carlos and K-Mart sat in front of the fireplace watching the flames dance. The adults were snuggled together while the nearby teen kept a close eye on her sleeping siblings. Her puppy Sparkles was comfortably stretched out on a piece of blanket and helping her watch the babies. She gave a sigh.

"What is it sweetheart?" asked her dad.

"I guess this will sound pretty silly given all that we have been through but I'm almost, almost mind you, sad that the days of our adventures have come to an end. I mean I'm looking forward to being a stay-at-home family and me being a regular high school teenager and all that but still..."

"Well they were important days," her mom pointed out. "Without those adventures we never would have become a family. Besides, you're going to be busy at school and in a few months you and Angie and everyone will have more baby-sitting chores besides your brothers and sisters."

"It's great that Aunt Claire and Aunt Jill are both expecting and all of us, including Eliza, Sally and Marian are expanding our baby-sitting, not just for them but for other families here. But you know what I mean. The days of wild adventures are over."

"Over?" smiled her parents together before Alice took over speaking again. "Sweetheart there's an entire world that needs reclaiming. There are pockets of people to be brought together, places to explore; a new civilization to build that hopefully won't make the same mistakes the last one did. There will be plenty of adventure and new experiences to come for everyone. For you, Angie, your friends. Heck," a twinkle lit Alice's eyes and she shared a secret grin with her daughter, "Even your father will be plunging into new things."

"Huh?" Carlos looked back and forth from his wife to his daughter, catching those grins. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Do you remember Robert and Sue?"

"The couple we first met in the smugglers' cave? Sure. The last I heard they have become the liaison between the floating communities and the Alaskan State government. What about them?"

"They're coming to Alaska and they're coming here."

"That's great but..."

"Why is that leading you to a new experience?" his wife finished the thought for him.

"Well, yeah," Carlos said in puzzlement.

"Do you remember their son Ted?"

"Yes."

"He's coming too," K-Mart said. Carlos sat up with panic in his eyes as he saw the dreamy look in his daughter's eyes. "We're going to the school dance Friday night. Together. Without you. Or mom."

"Yes Carlos Olivera," Alice tried desperately to stifle a giggle, something their daughter was unable to do. "If you think the last few years have been filled with danger and excitement well guess again. You are about to embark on the most frightening adventure any man can undertake. You are now the father of a teenage girl who has begun to date."

"Oh my God."

(The End)


End file.
